


Going Against The Grain

by Aria_McGee



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Auror, F/M, Legilimency, Ministry, Occlumency
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-02
Updated: 2018-01-07
Packaged: 2019-01-08 07:04:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 46,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12249381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aria_McGee/pseuds/Aria_McGee
Summary: They say that the apple never falls far from the tree, but Quinn Riddle proved that sometimes it fell worlds away. As a child, Quinn tried her best to prove that she and her father could not be more different, she worked hard to keep up good grades and treat everyone with the respect that they deserved. However, as her childhood came to an end she learnt that all her hard work had fallen on dead minds. No matter what she did Quinn would always be a security risk in their eyes. (William 'Bill' Weasley X OC).





	1. "I Have A Stack Of Paperwork The Size Of Me In There."

Paperwork and files filled the desk before Quinn Riddle, many items given to her by her immediate superior to complete due to his increasing work load. As she finished signing one of the countless forms regarding the upcoming Quiditch World Cup and the infamously dangerous Triwizard Tournament, she glanced up to see that the pile had seemingly gotten bigger. Groaning as she put her head in her hands, Quinn tried to remember the last time she had felt like the Wizarding World had treated her like an average witch.

Being the daughter of the most dangerous wizard known to their world, no matter how gone he was, was one of the worst things that Quinn had ever lived through. No-one had treated her like a regular citizen of this hidden population since her years at Hogwarts when she was known for getting nothing short of perfect scores on tests. Now she was a safety hazard, a security risk. Thanks to her father’s reputation that had been so horrific that it had out lived him, Quinn was constantly hitting the glass ceiling that had been put in place between her and achieving dream; to be an Auror.

Glancing at the clock that was hung on her wall above the door to her office, Quinn rolled her eyes at the fact that she seemed to be doing yet another all-nighter for Crouch. Right now, he was probably at home asleep in his comfortable bed without the fear of being thrown in Azkaban any time soon. What Quinn would have given to be in his position. Picking up another file, Quinn began to skim through it before letting out a large yawn. Deciding that if she wanted to get anything else done she had to go and get coffee, Quinn stood up, holding her head as it spun slightly, and stepped towards the door of her office.

Opening the door, Quinn’s eyes fixed momentarily on her black and silver name tag upon the door. _Assisting Head of the_ _Department of International Magical Cooperation,_ it read, her name in immensely smaller letters underneath obscuring them from the immediate view of any passers-by or visitors. Over the last 3 years Quinn had gotten used to the minimal use of her name and the non-existent recognition that she had any part to play in anything that happened. She was their dirty little secret.

“Quinn?” A familiar voice called out from behind Quinn causing her to turn around with her brow furrowed. For a moment, the girl’s face remained in the same expression, however as soon as her eyes fixed on the man’s ginger hair and slightly tattered clothes a smile made its way onto her face.

Looking at the man with a look of pure happiness, Quinn tried to work out what it was that was ever so different about the man who stood before her. He still had the same welcoming blue eyes and crooked but warm smile, but something was different. Maybe it was just the amount of time that Quinn had spent away from the man that had made him feel different, but there was one thing that was for certain; Quinn had missed the friendly face of Arthur Weasley.

“Mr Weasley, what a pleasant surprise,” the dark-haired girl spoke her blue eyes shining with life for the first time since the planning for the two immense events had started. “How is Mrs Weasley doing?”

“Don’t let her catch you calling her that.” The man chuckled at reference to his wife, his smile and laugh acting as a magnet for Quinn’s stress and tiredness. Arthur looked over at the door of the office she had just walked out of, his eyes fixing on the name tag before looking back to the young woman who had lived with him from 15 until the trace had broken. “How long have you been in this department? You are pretty high up I see.”

“Pretty high up in a pretty low-down department,” Quinn stated as she remembered how Crouch had been shunned to the department after news of his son’s extra-curricular activities became public. “Though, it is better than no-where I guess.”

“You have to come and see us soon, Molly would love to see you.” There was a pause as Arthur looked at Quinn’s overly pale skin. “And feed you. Are you okay, you are awful pale?”

“I haven’t slept in a while. I was just on my way to get coffee for tonight’s all-nighter.” Quinn spoke yawning uncontrollably as she did. “Are you heading home?”

“Yes,” Arthur spoke looking at the dark-haired woman with a look of authority before adding, “So are you. You need to sleep and if Barty has something to say about it send him to Molly, I do believe that that will show him a thing or two.”

“I’m good Mr Weasley.” Quinn spoke smiling at him weakly. “I have a stack of paperwork the size of me in there, it is going to take an all-nighter to get through it.”

“Then pull an all-nighter in the Weasley living room. Ginny will be over the moon to see you and so will Ron, they idolised you growing up, you made them unafraid of being placed in Slytherin.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want to intrude.” Quinn spoke her voice quiet as she looked down at her shoes wishing that for once she wasn’t scared of how her presence would affect the image of others.

“You won’t be intruding you are family.” Arthur smiled before pushing open her office door for her to get her paperwork. As he saw the size of the stack, Arthur realised that Quinn hadn’t been overexaggerating when she said that she had to pull an all-nighter.

Eyes flickered around the room as Arthur considered why the young woman would have been put under this kind of pressure, but as his eyes fixed on the toothbrush on the desk bellow the window and the pile of blankets in the corner of the room those thoughts left his mind.

“Quinn, have you been sleeping here?” Arthur asked looking at the girl confused.

“If you could call it that,” the girl scoffed as she looked at the due dates on her paperwork before placing the more urgent ones into her extended briefcase. “I nap here occasionally, my flatmate kicked me out after she discovered who my father was.”

“You should have owled us, Molly and I would happily have taken you.” Arthur stated, but knew the moment his eyes met the woman’s eyes, that had never held a sliver of child-like innocence, just why she hadn’t told him or Molly. “You don’t have to be afraid of tarnishing our image, Ron has done it more than you can anyway.”

“You are saying your best-behaved son, that isn’t a complete spoil sport, is the one who has tarnished your image the most?” Quinn questioned a small chuckle leaving her mouth as she finished putting her files into her bag, under the close watch of Arthur. “What about those twins? Do they still cause just as much mischief as they did in their first year?”

“Oh yes, Merlin bless the day the trace leaves them.” Arthur spoke smirking as he did. “Are you ready?”

“Yep,” Quinn spoke looking at the man with a smile on her face as he walked out of her office her bag in his hand. Following him out, Quinn caught up with him and snatched her briefcase out of his hand much to his protest.

“You comfortable using the Floo network?” Arthur asked the raven-haired girl as they walked through the halls, many people staring at the woman who would normally have been there until the next day. “I remember what happened one of the first times you used it from ours.”

“That wasn’t my fault, I had a cold!” Quinn defended a little louder than she would have normally causing numerous more people to stare at her. “I’m fine using the Floo.”

“Right then, you remember what you have to say?” Arthur asked quickly causing Quinn to shake her head sarcastically. Arthur let out a chuckle as he saw Quinn’s action. “Good to know you haven’t lost your sense of humour.”

“That is one thing that will always been intact Mr Weasley.” Quinn chuckled causing Arthur to look at her disapprovingly.

“I’ve told you before, it’s Arthur you are practically family.” Arthur stated as they neared the Floo system. “In fact, at one point we all thought that you were going to be a Weasley.”

Looking away from the man, Quinn blushed in an awkward silence as she followed the man wishing that the Floo Exit was closer. Thinking about the time when almost everyone thought that she was going to be a Weasley hurt Quinn more than she wanted to admit. If Quinn had known what was going to happen in the years after she left Hogwarts she would have tried harder to keep her ties with her friends after they left. However, there was no going back now, they had probably already moved on with their lives.

As the duo approached the Floo Exit they looked at each other before Arthur stepped into the fireplace with a handful of the grey dust. Quinn watched as the flames engulfed the man’s body and he disappeared. Following suit Quinn picked up a handful of the Floo-powder before stepping into the fireplace and being engulfed in flames.

Stepping out of the fireplace, Quinn felt an air of relief engulf her as her eyes fixated on the familiarity of the Burrow and the lack of change since she had left 4 years ago. The kitchen was still the same small and rather cramped room, filled with organised clutter that made it feel more comfortable and homely that the Malfoy Manor. There was a new scrubbed wooden table and chairs in the middle, decorated with wild flowers and an embellished table cloth. Pulling her heels off, Quinn smiled as the tile floor chilled her aching feet. Knitted jumpers with various letters still scattered the furniture in various sizes. A dull but welcoming glow filled the kitchen from the flames that flickered in the fire.

Turning towards the wall that had always held one of Quinn’s favourite item on the Weasley’s possession, Quinn’s eyes lit up with the with the same happiness as they had years before as they locked upon the clock with one hand and no numbers. Written around the edge were still things like _Time to make tea_ , _Time to feed the chickens_ , and _You’re late_. Eyes fleeting around the room, Quinn took in the multiple differences along with the multitude of similarities and identical elements of the home. Books were still stacked three deep, in some cases more, on the mantelpiece, the one that stood out to her the most being _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_. That book had been read to her multiple times by Charlie as they sat by the black lake, often with William.

Picking up the book, Quinn flicked through it smiling as she saw her handwriting and mixed conversations between her and Charlie from there Care for Magic Creatures lessons. As she flicked through the book and towards the back where both sets of handwriting were neater and uniform, Quinn’s mind filled with memories of her time at Hogwarts and the two Weasley boys.

* * *

 

_Summer days at Hogwarts were filled with students lazing by the black lake. Many of the girl tanning in the sun’s glorious rays while the boys tackled each other to the ground. However, Quinn and the eldest Weasleys spent their time by the lake in a different way, although Quinn didn’t complain if she did catch a tan._

_As the rest of the students ran around getting flustered, or lazed talking about beauty tips, the three would relish in the time they had left together in Hogwarts. Bill was in his last year at Hogwarts so was trying to take any moment he could with his younger brother and girlfriend._

_“Your smiling again, what’s the reason this time?” Quinn asked as she looked up at Bill from where she was lead with her head on his lap. His hands were messing with her hair as she listened to the surrounding._

_“Thinking about how great this year has been.” He stated as he looked down at Quinn’s vibrant blue eyes that always seemed broken no matter how happy she was. It wasn’t a surprise though, when you got tormented about things you can’t control as much as she did you were always going to look broken._

_“This year has been pretty good, hasn’t it?” Quinn smiled looking up at Bill as she did. For a moment, there was no-one else in the world, it was only them. Any wars or fights or natural disasters were gone, everything was just right._

_“Quinn,” a voice spoke snapping their eyes apart and bringing all the evil back into their world. “Sorry to break up the moment, but I found my old Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them!”_

_“The one with all our notes and conversation in?” Quinn spoke shooting up from where she was sat, narrowly missing Bill's head as she did. “Sorry!”_

_“You didn’t actually hit me,” Bill chuckled as he looked at Quinn who still looked guilty. Pecking his cheek in further apology Quinn continued to move closer to Charlie to see the book. However, whenever the girl would get close enough to see the youngest student would snatch it away._

_“Bill, there is a lot of doodles in this book that are definitely not mine.” As those words left Charlie’s mouth, Quinn’s cheeks burnt a bright red and she stood up trying to get the book from her best friend’s hands. “Looking at the handwriting and the fact that I lost this book last year they aren’t all so recent.”_

_“Charles Weasley!” Quinn spoke as she began chasing him around to get the book. Other students began to stare at the duo but they did not care, Quinn had to get that book so that she knew exactly what he was on about._

_“Bill! Catch!” Charlie yelled to his older brother who manages to catch the flying book much to his girlfriend’s misery. Holding it above his head, Bill chuckled at Quinn’s new rather annoyed stance. She wasn’t short, but Bill was unnaturally tall so she couldn’t reach the book as he held it above her head._

_“I find this extremely unfair and discriminative to the only Slytherin here.” Quinn spoke as she rolled eyes at Bill before sitting back on the ground in defeat._

_“Charlie, why is there Dora inside a heart?” bill asked as he looked at the book with curiosity. “Well unless you are hiding something from me Q.”_

_“William, when have I ever hidden anything from you?” Quinn spoke with complete sincerity and meaning._

* * *

 

“Quinn, where did you go?” Arthur spoke as he placed a hand on her shoulder pulling her from her memory. As she turned around to face him, she realised that her eyes had begun to fill with tears, the water threatening to spill out of her lower lid. Forcefully, she wiped her eyes before Arthur could see the pools that were collecting in her lower lids.

“No-where, I am tired so I stare off into space a lot,” Quinn lied as she looked at the man who had given her refuge all those years ago. In his hand was a mug filled with a brown liquid that Quinn assumed was coffee. As he handed the mug to her, Quinn smiled in thanks before glancing around the room again. Almost nothing had changed since she had last been in that home, only the people that were living within the walls.

Percy had finished school the year before and had already started a job at the ministry sucking up to Barty Crouch every chance that he got. Being his boss, Quinn regularly engaged in conversation with him. Charlie had moved to Romania shortly after she had she had moved out of the Weasley household. Bill had left midway through Quinn’s seventh year, with much persistence from Quinn for him to leave and take the job he was offered. Other than that, the people who called the Weasley house home were the same as when she had been there, so thankfully Quinn wasn’t going to confronted by the one person she had wronged the most.

“I’m sorry for the mess, living with 3 boys takes its toll, especially when they play as many pranks as the twins.” Arthur chuckled as moved, followed closely by Quinn, into the living room.

“Like I was ever any different when I lived here.” Quinn smiled as she looked at the elder with a smile on her face. “I was always making some mess or another.”

“But you always cleared it up.” Arthur stated as he turned the lamp to the side of him on as to light the room for the woman who was planning of finishing her paperwork. “So, what is it you do as the Assistant Head of the Department of International Magical Co-operation? That is a mouthful.”

“That is why we call it Assistant Head of ICMF,” Quinn smirked causing Arthur to nod his head at her. “I am supposed to be involved in most of the preparation of the major international events, but I mostly just deal with the paperwork.”

“Well, it is the loss of the ministry not you. Did you apply for the Author training?”

“Yep, but I am a security risk remember.” Quinn rolled her eyes at the Ministry’s lack of faith that she is separate from her father. “Sometimes I wish that I had just stayed with the Malfoy's, at least then I would be able to see my brother without being glared at or risk being cursed.”

“Well, I am going to go and catch some sleep, for tonight I would sleep down here then tomorrow we will work out somewhere for you to stay.” Arthur explained as he looked at the girl who still felt like she was intruding on the family. “Don’t stay up all night, Molly will probably kill both of us if you do.”

“Well I will see you tomorrow Mr Weasley.” Quinn smiled as she opened her briefcase and pulled out her files to finish before the next day.

“Quinn, I have told you before it is Arthur when you are in this house.”

“I’ll try,” the girl spoke a slight smiled on her face as her eyes began to sparkle slightly.

Watching as the elder left the living room and towards the stairs up to the rooms where the rest of the family were sleeping. Taking a seat on the sofa, Quinn began to work through each of the files in front of her. Sipping on her coffee, Quinn was beginning to feel the opposite effect that it normally had. As the time ticked past her eyes became ever heavier threatening to drop shut with every document she signed. Soon she was unable to keep her eyes open for more than a few minutes at a time, _a couple of hours won’t hurt_ , she thought to herself as she curled up on the sofa a file still in her grip.


	2. "Still has eyes in the back of her head I see."

“Mum!” A ginger haired boy, no older than 14, called out as he stood in the sun lit living room. He was still wearing his baggy and tattered pyjama bottoms and a plain white t-shirt that was a few sizes too big for him. His face held a dazed expression that made him seem as though he was still half asleep. His eyes were fixed on the raven-haired girl who was sleeping peacefully on the sofa before him, even with his deep and breaking voice yelling beside her she didn’t stir. The sheer exhaustion from not leaving work for at least a week had made the woman’s slumber almost unbreakable. “There’s a random girl sleeping on our sofa!”

“Ron, that is not a random girl! She lived with us for about 3 years.” A younger girl with matching ginger hair stated as she rolled her eyes at the older boy. Unlike the older boy, she was completely awake and had an alert look on her face. Standing beside the other ginger, she looked as though she should have been older. She was wearing spots gear and had a broomstick in her hand. “How do you not recognise her, you had a child crush on her.”

“I think I would remember having a child crush on her.” Ron stated looking at his sister with a matter-of-fact look.

“Ron, you don’t remember what you are for breakfast yesterday!” The girl cried their loud conversation not waking the peacefully sleeping woman. As the younger girl looked at the woman, she stepped forwards to pull the file that she was holding close to her chest into her own hands. Reading through the file, the younger girl’s eyes widened with surprise. “Assisting Head of the Department of International Magical Co-operation. She’s Percy’s boss.”

“Ginny, why would Percy bring his boss home?” Ron questioned as he looked at the younger girl rolling his eyes. The younger girl’s, Ginny’s, face filled with a dumbfounded look at her brother’s stupidity.

“Ron! He didn’t bring her home!” Ginny yelled causing the raven-hair woman’s face to screw up. For a moment, the two siblings remained silent trying to make up for their slight destruction of the woman. Once Ginny was sure that the woman was soundly asleep again, she added in a whisper yell, “It was probably Dad, especially with this pile of work. She probably hasn’t slept in ages.”

“What are you two yelling about?” Two older boys, who were almost identical apart from one being a quarter of an inch taller than the other, spoke in unison stepping into the living room with a smirk on their faces.

“Do you think they fell victim again, Freddie?” the taller one asked.

“They would be laughing not bickering, Georgie.” The other answered with a matching air of mischief in his tone.

However, as their eyes caught sight of the girl who was lead on the sofa, their  menacing smile turned to the youngest boy in the room. The identical boy’s eyes met each other for a second before they moved either side of Ron, Ginny rolling her eyes as she continued to read the file she had found in the woman’s hands.

“It’s ickle Ronnie's baby crush!” George teased as he placed his arm over the youngest red-heads shoulder before it was forcefully shaken off.

“Don’t let Bill catch you saying that,” Fred spoke looking at his brother. “What is it he used to say?”

“I am going to make her a Weasley one day.” George and Ginny answered in unison.

As the words left their mouth, an older slightly plump woman walked into the room, her, slightly grey, ginger hair sticking up in clumps. There was a look of annoyance on her face as she walked in glaring at her children, but that look disappeared when she saw the girl on the sofa. The woman’s eyes almost filled with tears of relief as she saw the woman slept safely on the sofa.

A slight smile made its way onto the woman’s face as she took in the fact that the raven-haired woman, who in her eyes would always be the shaking and fragile little girl that had shown up in her fireplace one night. However, that smile soon changed to a look of fury as she saw the mountain of files on the desk with the woman’s handwriting scribbled all over it. All of a sudden, the woman’s infuriated attention moved from the table to her children who had been yelling just moments before.

“What are you 4 doing in here? Yelling at that!” The woman whisper yelled at the group of children. Her attention turned specifically to the girl her face scrunching up with disappointment as she saw the file in her hands. After snatching the file from her grasp, she added, “Ginny, I expected better from you.”

“Mum, I wanted to find out what she did for the ministry.” Ginny stated looking at her mother with a look of unease. Being the only girl in the family Ginny was always expected to be perfect and her mother always hoped that her daughter would grow up to be an Auror or a Healer or something high up in the ministry, but all Ginny wanted to do was play Quidditch. “Did you know that she was Percy’s boss?”

“That is not important right now, you all need to leave!” The children’s mother told them in a forceful whisper. Each of their faces filled with the type of fear only a disappointed mother can strike into her children. “Ginny, grab a blanket, she must be freezing. Ron, go and wake your father he must have something to do with these files. Fred, George, stay out of the living room, if she waked up pranked I will not be impressed. She got more OWLs than you two combined!”

***

Slowly sitting up as the sun crept through the curtains and into the Weasley’s living room, Quinn pushed her dark curls out of her face yawning loudly as she did. For a moment, Quinn forgot that she was an adult. For just a minuscule moment she was a child again, a 15-year-old without a care in the world again. However, that moment was quickly vanquished as she saw the pile of files on the coffee table before her. Standing up, Quinn stretched her arms out feeling rejuvenated after actually sleeping, instead of relying on Coffee and potions to give her energy, for once. Eyes flickering around the room for the first time since she had moved into the living room, a smile made her way to her face as she saw the moving pictures of the Weasley’s, many of them including her; a bushy haired girl; or a dark-haired boy with circular glasses.

Stepping towards the pictures, Quinn found herself absent-mindedly picking up the framed newspaper clipping from Egypt. Over the years Bill and Charlie had changed greatly, both of them continuing to grow their hair as they did in Hogwarts. Charlie was still well built and it looked as though her had stopped growing in their last year of schooling at Hogwarts, but had seemingly continued to play sports or lift heavy things as his arms had become muscly, something they never were at Hogwarts. On the other hand, Bill, who was already unusually tall, had continued to grow after he left for Egypt. His hair was tied back in a ponytail and he had a fang earring in his ear. From what Quinn remembered Bill had always been quite alternative in his fashion, however he had gone further than she could have ever imagined since he had left.

Placing the image back down, Quinn turned her attention to one of Ginny flying her broom in the garden with the twins and the boy that was in a few of the other photographs on the mantelpiece. Last time Quinn had seen the youngest Weasley she was only 9 years old and already smarter and more mature than the twins and Ron, now she would be 13 and starting her third year at Hogwarts. From the pictures before her, Quinn could tell that she had followed quite closely in Charlie’s footsteps and never seemed to be without a smile on her face.

Pulling her eyes away from the pictures, Quinn looked back at the files that sat on the table, sighing as she realised that she was going to have to go back to the office to finish up the rest of the paperwork. Glancing around the room, her mind filled with confusion when she couldn’t see her briefcase. Moving towards the table, Quinn began rummaging through the files on the table attempting to find it in order to take her files back in. After 10 minutes of unsuccessful rummaging, Quinn bit on the inside of her lip as she tried to work out any other place it would be.

Wandering out of the living room, Quinn tried to recall if she had brought it onto the room in the first place. However, as she stepped into the kitchen, she was met with 4 ginger haired children, one with a blank expression; two with matching smirks; the fourth with a smile from ear to ear; looking back at her.

“Good, you are here.” A woman spoke, her voice making a smile form on Quinn’s face as soon as she heard it. “There is coffee on the side for you, we hear you wake up. The eggs are almost done for breakfast.”

“Thank you, Mrs…Molly, but I can’t stay for breakfast I have to get in to finish up my paperwork.” Quinn spoke as she picked up the mug of coffee on the side sipping it slowly. “On that note, have you seen a black briefcase? It has an extension charm on it.”

“About that,” Molly started as she pulled out a chair for Quinn to sit at. “Arthur has gone in to your office to collect the rest of your paperwork. You are going to do it here and send it in with Percy when you are done.”

“Molly, I can’t do that the Quidditch world cup is only a few nights away and then the other is only a week after that. There is too much that needs to be discussed…”

“Nonsense, you are overworked, stressed and exhausted. If Mr Crouch has anything against this he can speak to me. Quinn, you look as place as a ghost and thinner than is healthy.” Molly stated as she looked at the woman with a look that made Quinn feel safe. “Now, sit down and eat your breakfast.”

“Thank you, Molly.” Quinn stated giving up on fighting with her. From the amused look on the twins faces, their mother had obviously spent most of the time they had all been awake ranting about the topic. Taking the seat, Quinn turned to look at the children who sat before her. “So, Ginny, I can see from the pictures in the living room that you are a flyer. Gryffindor team?”

A slight smile on her face, Ginny shook her head at the young adult, “I don’t think so. Our team is flawless as it is, what with Harry being the youngest player in a century. Better than Charlie they say.”

“Must be good then,” Quinn smiled as she remembered playing against Charlie during her time at Hogwarts. A smile formed on her face as the memories came back to her as vibrant as the ginger hair of children before her.

* * *

 

_Winter wind penetrated Quinn’s thick Quidditch gear as she gripped tightly onto her broom, her knuckles becoming white with her deathly grip. Over the years Quinn had only had one major fall, however that fall, in weather similar to that game, left her overcompensating for even the slightest breeze. Now, as the winds knocked even the most skilled riders off course, the dark-haired girl was holding as tight as her hand allowed. Although the winter was the most bitter Hogwarts had seen, the turnout was immense and the stands were filled to the maximum capacity._

_Thankfully, Quinn’s mother had taught her simple but useful charms that helped in situations like this. Not once, before that match, had one of the charms come in as useful as the one to repel water from her glasses was. If it weren’t for this spell her view would have been distorted by the rain droplets causing her ability to catch the Quaffle to be vanquished._

_Leaning forwards on her broom, Quinn spread up to meet Flint as he approached the goals. Luckily, Quinn’s natural talent on a broom had earned her the respect of her fellow teammates despite her gender. Being the first girl on the team in as long as many professors could remember had both its advantages and disadvantages. The first being the fact that she had become a role model to the younger, and even the other houses, who are told they will never accomplish something. The latter being that she had to work twice as hard during matches to be included in plays. However, since the beginning of her 5th year the team had begun to respect her more and more due to her Co-Captain tittle._

_Throwing the Quaffle past the Gryffindor Keeper, Oliver Wood, Quinn managed to hit it through the goal without any issue._

_“And Riddle, the only girl on the team, scores once again for the Slytherin team extending their lead on Gryffindor 90-30!” Marcus Barrington cried from the commentator’s box beside McGonagall. The cheering crowd continued to make extreme amounts of noise as Quinn smirked at Charlie who was swaying slightly on his broom beside her. Winking at her, the red-headed boy’s eyes flicked into the distance and a familiar shine filled them telling the girl exactly what they had landed on._

_“Kerris!” She cried earning a glare from Charlie who had thought that he had gotten away with his view of the Snitch._

_“I will get you at some point Riddle!” Charlie exclaimed as he sped past her diving to catch the Snitch._

_As she continued to pass around the Quaffle, Quinn tried to keep her eyes on both the Seekers and the Slytherin Beaters. However, as she once again hit the Quaffle past Oliver Madame Hootch blew her whistle registering a fowl._

_“Slytherin Beater Goyle aimed a Bludger dangerously close to Gryffindor Seeker Weasleys head earning Gryffindor a penalty!” Marcus yelled into the mic catching Quinn’s attention as she threw a glare at Goyle._

_“Try anything like that again and I will demote you!” Quinn cried at Goyle who nodded in a mix of fear and cowardice._

_After the fowl both teams lost sight of the Snitch and the game went on for another hour before Charlie caught the Snitch at an insanely high speed._

* * *

 

“Quinn,” A voice spoke as a hand clicked in front of Quinn’s face causing her to look up shaking the glazed look off her face. Eye’s flickering around the Weasleys, Quinn realised that she had been once again in her own world. It was odd how being back in the Weasley home gave her such a feeling of nostalgia. Up until she had come back she was unaware of how much she had missed the vibrant ginger hair and freckles that plagued each Weasley’s phenotypes.

“Sorry,” Quinn smiled as she looked back over at the children. Eyes landing on the twins, Quinn couldn’t help but compare them to Charlie. They were both similarly built to the second oldest Weasley boy, however they did not have half the number of freckles that their brother did. “You two look greatly like your brother you know.”

“Which one,” The taller asked.

“We have many,” The other finished.

“Charlie.” Quinn stated as Molly placed a plate of eggs and bacon before her, the smell of the food filled Quinn’s nostrils. The smell of food suddenly made Quinn realise that she had forgotten to eat anything yesterday and had only eaten breakfast the day before that. “Thank you, Molly.”

“Eat up, you are skinnier than Harry was the first time he came here.” Molly stated as she looked at the clothes that hung off Quinn prominent shoulders and hips. “When was the last time you ate?”

“Can I plead the 5th?” Quinn whispered to Ginny who had moved next to the young woman to get away from her older brothers for once. As Ginny realised what Quinn had meant she began to chuckle before glancing to her Mum who was glaring at them. “I take that as a no.”

“Quinn Riddle…” Molly started but was interrupted by her youngest son.

“I remember who you are now!” The 14-year-old cried causing his younger to sister to put her head in her hands at his idiocy. “Your Bill’s girlfriend! Why are you here before him?”

Turning red, Quinn looked at her hands before realising what he had said. Bill was going to be there. If he was coming back then she couldn’t stay there, he probably hated her now. He had tried writing to her, but she never once replied. Though he had kept every one of her letters carefully hidden from the others on her dorms, especially considering their hatred for her in the first place.

Seeing that Quinn’s face had noticeably dropped, Molly scowled at Ron who was looking even more dumbfounded than he was before. “Why don’t you go and change before you post the letter to Harry?”

“Fine,” Ron grumbled as he stood up and began to make his way up the stairs.

“I should really go into work,” Quinn spoke standing up quickly and shooting her hands to her head as it spun more violently than it had the night before. Sitting back down on the seat, Quinn glanced up at Molly who had a look that consisted of a mix of anger and worry.

“No, Quinn you are staying here until the Quidditch match. Then you will Apparate with Charlie, Bill and Percy.” Molly stated her posture as perfect as it always had been when Quinn had stayed there herself. “You are then going to stay in the Weasley tents, it has all been planned already.”

“Molly…”

“No, you can’t change it.” Molly spoke as she placed more coffee in Quinn’s mug. “Now eat before you pass out.”

Nodding to the older woman, Quinn glanced back at the food on her plate that looked better than anything she could get out of the shop at work. However, as she brought it up to her mouth it felt as though her stomach had shrunk drastically, even the thought of eating made her feel physically sick. Placing the fork down, Quinn watched as Molly walked up the stairs with a plate and a mug, most likely for Percy. Pushing her chair back, Quinn began to scrape the food from her plate to the rest of the Weasley’s who seemed to be more than happy to take it.

“QUINN! I know you are giving that food away!” Molly yelled causing the raven-haired woman to groan.

“Still has eyes in the back of her head I see,” Quinn spoke to the Weasley children who nodded with a muffled laugh.


	3. "My Mother: The Matchmaker."

Time had flown at the Weasley’s since Quinn had arrived in the early hours of Sunday the 21st of August. Over the course of the day and a half that she had been there she had managed to catch up with each of the Weasley siblings individually, not including the two that were yet to arrive, while still managing to finish all her paperwork and take it into work. Also, much to Molly’s delight, the woman had begun to regain her health and seemed to have gained an awful lot of colour in such a short time. However, at every meal Molly still commented on how skinny Quinn truly was and she never failed to go as white as a sheet when someone brought up Bill’s upcoming arrival.

However, as the sun shone above the rickety old house, each of the remain Weasley’s, excluding Percy who was working on a report for Crouch that even Quinn had turned down, were out in the garden practicing for the upcoming Quidditch House Cup at Hogwarts. After countless requests from both the twins and Ginny Quinn had agreed to join them          much to Ron’s obvious annoyance.

Ron was still getting over the fact that no matter what he said around the girl he earnt himself a glare from his mother. If he mentioned Bill, she turned pale and his mother glared and sent him to do something or other that he really didn’t want to do. If he mentioned the upcoming Quidditch World Cup, Quinn began to look really anxious and paranoid and went around searching through her briefcase and the stacks of paper while his mother tutted at him. In the end Ron decided to stay absolutely silent around the raven-haired woman he could only just remember.

Seeing their excitement at the schools Quidditch tournament, Quinn began to feel overly guilty about the fact that she knew more about its fate in the upcoming year. Part of her, her heart, wanted to tell the Weasley children that it wasn’t going ahead next year, but the more intelligent part, her brain, knew that it would lead to questions about how she knew and why it wasn’t. Quinn was going to have to go along with it.

Gripping onto Charlie’s old Broomstick, Quinn looked over at Ginny who was smirking at her as she struggled to stay steady in the air. Rolling her eyes at the sudden resemblance to her second oldest brother, Quinn flew upwards leaning forward on the broom to go as fast as possible. Looking back at Ginny, the raven-haired girl chuckled at her as she hovered mouth wide open at how quickly she had managed to steady herself on the broom.

“What positions do you all play?” Quinn asked breaking the silence that had surrounded the flying wizards.

George was the first to answer from beside his twin, “Fred and I are Beaters for the school team. Ron wants to try out for keeper this year, now that Wood’s gone.”

“I remember Wood, he was pretty good even back when I was there.” Quinn stated as she looked at the twins.

“If I got onto the team I would want to be Chaser or Seeker. However, right now the team is full apart from Keeper.” Ginny stated as she flew up to join Quinn.

“Who’s on the team now them?”

“Us two, Harry, Angie, Katie and Maria.” Fred stated as he looked at his younger sister whose eyes lit up at the mention of Maria. Chuckling at his sisters immediate and predictable reaction, Fred turned to his twin who was glaring at his sister daring her to open her mouth.

“George has a thing for Maria.” The youngest squealed as she looked at Quinn who was looking over at George who flew at his younger sister almost knocking her off her broom.

“Do not!” He cried as he flew back to his twin who was laughing at his over-reaction to their younger sister’s outburst.

“Georgie, you ditched me for her in potions last year. You have a thing for her.” Fred spoke causing George to go red and a slight smile to form on Quinn’s face. They were the same as her and Bill had been to Charlie when they found out he had a thing for Nymphadora Tonks, a Hufflepuff girl that the 2 youngest were close to.

“Enough about girls!” Quinn cried causing Ron to look thankful that he was never brought into any of the talk. “Let’s get on with playing!”

“What position did you play again?” Ron asked hoping that it was a safe topic, he didn’t fancy tidying his room again that day.

“Chaser, the only problem was my team cheated like that was the only rule of the game.” Quinn spoke as she remembered the countless times they had had to rely on their keeper to perform miracles due to her horrific disobedient beaters. “Being the only girl on the all boy Slytherin team it was difficult to get the rest of the airheads to listen to me, however once I became captain they did start to listen. Most people say that to be a Chaser you have to be big and bulky, but, Ginny, trust me being small and agile is one of the best things when being a Chaser. Especially when you can ride as well as I am sure you can.”

Smiling, Ginny looked at Quinn who was holding a Quaffle in her hands that was not there before. None of the Weasley’s had seen her go down to get it or had seen her take her wand from her boot, where she so oddly kept it, to cast the summoning charm. It had just appeared in her hands. Opening his mouth to ask, Ron stopped midway considering the fact that that was most likely a poor subject to question her on.

After what felt like minutes of going through drills with the Weasleys, the sun began to set on the house that each of them now called home. Over the time that they had been practicing, Ron had begun to realise that maybe Quinn was no-where near as bad as the first day and a half had made him believe. Maybe she wasn’t so different to Ginny after the incident with Tom Riddle in the Chamber in her first year, she had been so careful of what she did as not to strike fear onto people’s minds. She was steady about the words she used, the essays she completed first just in case the only thing people remembered was how Riddle had claimed her mind and made her do the disastrous things.

“Boys! Ginny! Hermione is here!” Molly called from the kitchen window causing the youngest 2 Weasleys to speed towards the ground leaving the twins and Quinn in the air. “Fred! George! Come and say hello! Hermione will most likely get more OWLs that you two combined!”

“Why can’t she just drop it?” Fred asked as he looked at George who shrugged his shoulders before dropping to the ground.

“Quinn, come in too. Hermione will probably want to pick your brain,” Molly called out the window to the girl who was still hovering in the air above the twins. Smiling at the thought of meeting one of the people the Weasleys talked about non-stop, Quinn descended to the ground waiting until her feet were firmly on the floor before dismounting the broom and resting it against the outer wall of the house.

As soon as she entered the house, Quinn was pulled into the living room by two matching hands and a blur of red hair that she could only presume was the twins. Once they had let her stand still, Quinn’s eyes darted across the room to see a girl around Ron’s age stood before her with almost perfect posture apart from a slight favouring of her right side. This, Quinn could only presume from what she had been told, was due to her carrying around heavy text books from one class to another. Smiling for a moment the memory of doing the same thing, Quinn looked at the girl’s face. Her bushy hair framed her face that had a simple and welcoming beauty to it that greatly contrasted many of the women at the ministry due to their in-your-face make up and _I’m-better-than-you_ stares. Hermione’s face held a smile that could only be described as carefree, despite the fact that she clearly was not due to the stories that she had been told by the twins and Ginny.

“Hermione Granger.” She spoke as she held her hand out for Quinn to shake. “I am a friend of Ronald’s.”

“Quinn Riddle,” The raven-haired girl spoke with a smile on her face as she shook the now shocked girls hand trying to hide the hurt that was filling her body. “An old… Acquaintance of William’s and Charlie’s.”

“Look Georgie, she still calls him William.” Fred spoke from beside the dark-haired woman who was suddenly turning a bright shade of pink.

“How sweet,” the taller twin stated as he looked between the Riddle and his brother. “Though she did just demote herself to an acquaintance of his, not a future-”

“That’s enough!” Quinn cried stopping George from finishing his statement, simultaneously saving herself from reliving the moments and feelings with the oldest Weasley. If she even tried to think about him as anything more than an acquaintance her eyes began to well with tears because she was reminded that she let him, the best thing to happen to her in a long time, go. In fact, she had pushed him away.

“Touchy subject,” Ron mumbled to Hermione who looked overly confused. “I’ve had to tidy my room 3 times in the last day and a half for bringing it up.”

Looking between Quinn, Ginny, Ron and the twins, Hermione tried to work out whether she had heard the eldest correctly when she had said her name. Surely the Weasley’s wouldn’t have been associated with the daughter of _him_ , did _he_ even have a daughter? Fixing her eyes on Quinn, Hermione was ultimately shocked by the deep but bright blue of her eyes that were framed with natural eye makeup and simple eyeliner.

“I’m sorry, but did I hear you correctly?” Hermione spoke as politely as she knew how. “Did you say you were a Riddle?”

“Touchy subject!” Ron exclaimed as he looked between his friend and the girl he had been silent around as much as possible.

“Don’t worry Ron.” Quinn smiled placing her hand on his shoulder softly. “It’s a fair question. The Weasley family are known as _Blood Traitors_ to people like my name suggests I am, it’s perfectly normal to be curious.”

“Then why do I have to keep tidying my room, or washing up?”

“Because you know full well the story Ronald Weasley!” Molly spoke from the door of the living room causing everyone but Ron to chuckle. “Now, Hermione I am sure you would love to hear the story; however, Bill and Charlie are going to be here any minute so if you could take your things upstairs.”

“I’ll do it Molly,” Quinn offered taking her wand out of her pocket, remembering that none of the Weasley’s knew about her _gift_ unlike earlier. “It will save Hermione here lugging it all upstairs.”

“Thank you, Quinn,” Hermione spoke as she put down her case for Quinn to levitate it.

“It is no problem really,” Quinn insisted trying her best to hide her ulterior motives for wanting to take the luggage upstairs. Mission avoid Bill as long as possible was underway.

Walking up the stairs, Quinn stopped outside Ginny’s room where Hermione was staying until the start of the school term. For the last night Quinn was lucky enough to have a room to herself in the Weasley home as Molly had moved Fred and George out of their room earlier than expected. However, from tonight until the start of term Quinn was sharing with Bill and Charlie. She had done this on countless occasions before when she had lived here, usually when they had been out at the muggle village until late and Molly didn’t want her waking Ginny by going into their room, but this time it was different. Back then, her and Bill had been friends, more than friends, now they hadn’t spoken since that day at the station. That damned day at the station.

Placing Hermione’s trunk into Ginny’s room, Quinn tried to think of a believable and genuine reason she would be later down stairs to greet Bill and Charlie. After a moment of consideration, Quinn felt a breeze come in through the open window. Wrapping her arms around herself as she moved over to close the window, Quinn smiled at the sudden realisation. She would go and get a jumper and be loud about it so that she disrupted Percy who would hold a conversation with her. Stepping out of Ginny’s room, Quinn began to climb the stairs to the room she was staying in.

Going into her room, Quinn crossed the floor to her trunk that held her clothes ready for heading to Hogwarts as event coordinator. Rummaging through it, Quinn made sure to drop a few items on the floor and curse as loudly as she dared with Molly in the house. After pulling out a grey jumper, Quinn stood up accidentally hitting her knee on her trunk as she did. Letting out a hiss of pain, Quinn thanked fate for being on her side in that moment.

Descending the stairs, Quinn heard the door along from her open revealing an annoyed looking Percy. Internally dancing, Quinn managed to force a small smile onto her face instead of a toothy grin.

“Was that you, making all that noise?” He asked and Quinn nodded her head before looking apologetically at the newest member of her work team.

“Sorry, a few things fell out of my trunk and then I hit my knee on my way up from the ground.” Quinn explained as she leaned against the banister rubbing her knee slightly. “All that for a jumper! So, how’s the report coming along?”

“Not good, I told Mr Crouch I would have it to him, or you, by Tuesday next week.” He stated causing Quinn to slowly shake her head at him. “I know it is before either of you…”

“Don’t over work yourself Perce.” Quinn stated looking at the man she had known since he was ever so young. “You will end up in the same state I was when I got here, about a missed meal from death. I was running off caffeine and potions, nothing else. If I hadn’t have ran into your dad on my way out of my office that night I don’t think I would be in the state I am now.”

Looking at the woman who he worked with, Percy admitted to himself that every time he saw her at work she looked pale, fragile and ill. However, now, she looked healthy and had regained an awful lot of colour to her face. Nodding at her, Percy thanked Quinn before returning to his room and shutting the door.

“Anytime,” Quinn whispered to herself as she walked away from the door. Unfortunately, Percy seemed to think that Barty Crouch Sr hung the sun and the moon, though Quinn knew very different. Barty Crouch Sr was nothing short of a bully who was constantly putting the rest of the ministry down to try and make him feel better for his near miss at becoming Minister for Magic. If Percy failed to see that, he was going to end up in the same place.

Giving in, Quinn made her way down the rest of the stairs to find that the 2 eldest Weasleys were, still, not yet there. Her efforts had been for nothing.

“Sorry I took so long,” Quinn stated as Molly looked over at her with a look of confusion on her face. “I was beginning to feel a chill so grabbed my jumper.”

“Of course, you were! That top barely covers anything!” Molly exclaimed as she looked at Quinn’s sportswear with a disapproving look that caused each of the family members to chuckle. “Bill should be here any moment,” Molly added as she looked between the clock and the fireplace. “Bill is due at 6 and Charlie at 6:15.”

“I’m going to go and grab Pe-”

“Quinn Riddle, you will wait here.” Molly spoke forcefully as she watched Quinn glance at her watch. “I know what you are trying to do and you can’t avoid him forever.”

“But I can for a little while longer.” Quinn stated but was stopped as the fireplace lit, green flames glowing on the faces of those in the Weasley kitchen. “Or not.”

“Bill!” Molly cried as she wrapped her arms around her eldest son, for once taking her eyes off Quinn who managed to duck to the back of the group and out of the sight of the eldest Weasley. “You need to visit more!”

“I can’t Mum, I have a job.” Bill spoke between sharp breaths obviously caused by his mother’s tight grip.

Smiling as the family crowded the eldest, Quinn was joined by Hermione who felt out of place with the rest of the red-heads who were each greeting Bill. IN all her visits to the Weasley’s Hermione had never once met Bill, although she had learned a lot about him. In all honesty, Bill was not what she had expected at all. Not once had Ron mentioned that Bill, apart from his achievements was nothing like Percy. Part of Hermione had expected it after Georges half comment about Quinn and Bill, from the looks of Quinn she would never be with someone like Percy, but she never would have pictured Bill like this.

Bill was tall with ginger hair that matched the rest of his siblings, something that Hermione had been expecting and would have been truly shocked if he hadn’t have been ginger, but that was where his similarities to the any of the family stopped. Bill’s hair must have been about the same length as Ginny’s, if not longer, and it was tied back in a ponytail. He had an earring with what Hermione made out to be a fang hanging off it in one year and his clothes looked no different to that of many members of the audience when she had gone to see meatloaf the previous year, one thing that she had done that she would never admit to anyone other than Ginny. All in all, Bill looked pretty cool.

“Where have the other two… Ah there you are.” Molly spoke pulled Bill to the back of the kitchen where Hermione and Quinn were stood. Luckily, Quinn had begun to wash up while the Weasley’s were fussing over Bill by the fireplace. “This is Hermione, Ron’s friend. Harry is gonna be here the day before the match.”

“Hi,” Bill spoke holding his hand out to Hermione who shook it quickly while Molly tutted at the woman who was washing the dishes.

“You are trying every-” Molly was interrupted by the fire lighting once again behind her. A smile filled Molly’s face as she turned back to the fireplace to see her second youngest child stood coughing as he stepped out. “Charlie!”

“Hi Mum,” Charlie smiled as his mother moved over to him holding him in a tight embrace that made him begin coughing again. “Crushing me Mum.”

“Charlie Weasly! It has been 3 whole weeks since you last owled me!” Quinn cried as she turned around to face the boy who was let go by his mother who was fighting back a chuckle at the his newly pale face. Making her way across the kitchen at a fast pace, Quinn threw herself at her best friend who caught her in a softer embrace than his mothers. “Oh, and stop growing because I can’t hug you properly now!”

“Mum, you should have gotten Charlie to arrive first, then she wouldn’t have tried to hide.” George stated as he looked at the friend’s hug. Placing Quinn back down on the floor, the dark-haired girl turned pale as Charlie stood awkwardly looking at his blank faced older brother.

“If it is any constellation I didn’t know she was going to be here either.” Charlie spoke his words weak as they left his mouth. Turning her back on the youngest of the new arrivals, Quinn tried to force a smile onto her face but couldn’t.

“Q.”

“William.”

“Right, all of you out!” Molly cried as she looked at the duo who seemed overly awkward. Just as they were about to follow, she turned to them putting her hand on her hip. “Not you two. Bill, you can help Quinn finish the washing up she started and then help her set the table.”

After she had left the duo shared a look of confusion as an awkward silence filtered into the air around them. Breaking the silence, Bill spoke, “My mother, the matchmaker.”

Both of the adults let out a warm-hearted chuckle that made its way out of the window to Molly who nodded as she smiled to herself. Maybe they would be okay, she thought as she moved the brooms into the shed while watching the remaining Weasleys, and Hermione, listen to Charlie’s stories from Romania.


	4. "Can you even see without your glasses?"

Tension was thick enough to cut in the Weasley kitchen as Quinn continued to wash the dished by hand, despite her ability to do it in seconds with the flick of a wand. However, beside her, Bill copied the dark-haired woman’s actions of doing the chore by hand instead of by magic as he dried up what she had washed. Subconsciously, the two wanted to spend as much time together as possible until they had to go back to reality, they both wanted to talk but neither knew how to start the conversation.

As they stood in the sharp silence, memories of the last time she had seen Bill filled Quinn’s mind while she stood beside him washing up plates in the warm soapy water. Since that day, not a moment had gone by that she hadn’t wished it could have gone differently, that she had told him all that she had but not meant it. Not enforced it. Yet, no matter how much she thought about it, wished for it, nothing would change what she had done that day. An action wasn’t bad if it had positive repercussions, Quinn told her every time the guilt from that day filled her mind, but each time she did she believed it a little less.

After a few more minutes of silence, Quinn sighed loudly catching Bill’s attention. As his eyes landed on the raven-haired woman, he felt a smile pull at the corners of his lips. She was the same as she was when he had left just over 3 years ago, though from the looks of it she had lost an unhealthy amount of weight since then. Apart from that: she still had the same ocean coloured eyes that had held an air of maturity, even in her first year at Hogwarts when she had been in his and Charlie’s compartment; her hair was still the same dark black colour, that in the winter had streaks that were almost blue and in the summer were a deep hazel colour; most of all her face still held a smile that made it seem as though she had never been hurt, he knew more than anyone that she had.

“How is Egypt?” Quinn asked finally breaking the silence that has managed to weigh down on her shoulders so much it was suffocating her.

“Good,” Bill answered, his eyes flickering over her face for any sign of what she was thinking. What she was feeling. However, Quinn’s face told him nothing. When they were younger she had always been able to hide how she really felt from him, though she had never been able to lie to him. “Nothing special. How’s the Ministry? I hear you are Percy’s boss.”

“Hmm,” Quinn nodded without looking at the eldest Weasley boy. Keeping her eyes on the washing up meant that she could trick herself into thinking that he was a completely different person, that she was finally over him. Even meeting his eyes for a second meant that it would all come back. Joining his eyes with hers, even for a millisecond, would undo everything she had done to move on with her unsteady life. That was something she couldn’t do. “Not where I want to be, but it’s somewhere. How’s-”

“Why didn’t you write back?” Bill interrupted finally getting to the point he had been wondering about since he had heard her voice that day. Until then he hadn’t even thought he would get the chance to ask her the question, but now, as she stood before him busying herself with the washing up, he was determined to get an answer. “I owled you every day for 6 months, yet not once did I get a reply. Why?”

“I couldn’t,” Quinn whispered softly her voice barely loud enough for Bill to hear. Her hands had stopped washing up the plate that Ron had used earlier in the afternoon when he had complained of being hungry. A harsh aching pain filled her chest cavity as she thought about how many times she had come up with excuses not to write that first few months. She had her NEWTs, she needed time to come to grips with what had happened, she didn’t know what to say, yet none of those were the true reasons. She was scared that he would choose her.

“It isn’t difficult to pick up a quill and a piece of parchment and write _Bill I’m alive_!” He cried putting the mug in his hand down forcefully on the side, the handle breaking off in his hand. However, in that moment the broken mug was nothing to either of them, they had finally pushed back past each other’s walls.

“And have you run back here giving up the chance of a life time, I couldn’t do that to you!” As she tried, and failed, to compose herself Quinn’s face turned sour with a mix of anger and fear. If she let Bill back in she wasn’t going to be able to go back to her life again, but she couldn’t stay with him because now they both had too much to lose.

“It wasn’t the chance of a life time if it meant I lost you!” Bill yelled causing Quinn to step back shocked at his words. Eyes meeting his, Quinn noticed that they were looking at her with raw emotion, raw pain. Back then, when everything went downhill for the Riddle, she had thought she was doing the right thing by him, the kind thing. However, now she wasn’t so sure. If she had caused the pain that lingered in his eyes Quinn would never be able to forgive herself. She never wanted to hurt him. She could never hurt him without hurting herself.

“I-”

“Let me finish Q.” Bill interrupted as Quinn was about to speak, tears threatening to overflow from her eyes. That look on her face was the most memorable thing to Bill from that day on the platform, the thought that to help him she had caused herself pain. “That day, when you left me, you told me it was because you loved me. That was what made it so hard, if you had told me you didn’t love me I could have gotten over you, slowly but I could have. You didn’t, you told me you did it because you loved me. You couldn’t see me throw away my dreams. What you didn’t realise was that because of you my dreams had changed. Q, you were my new dream.”

Tears now escaping her eyes, Quinn looked up at Bill who was looking back down at her with eyes that seemed to carry more than sight. “William, all I ever do is tear people down. Even associating yourself with me puts a target on your back from people who used to follow my father and makes the ministry see you as a death eater. That is why I didn’t want to come back here, who I isolate myself so much. The only reason I am standing before you now is because your dad found me while I was on my way to get coffee that I had been substituting for sleep, he then told your mum who refuses to let me go into work until I am back to full health!”

Shocked by the woman’s words, the duo allowed the silence to once again weave its was round them as they turned back to their chores. As they did, each considered the others candour, their minds filled with more questions that they wanted to ask each other, but each time they opened their mouths to do so they would change their mind last minute.

Bill’s words still lingering in their mind, Quinn began to think about that day on the station, wondering if she had been remembering it right all these years. What if she had been giving more fault to herself that she had? What if all this time she hadn’t been as harsh as she believed herself to be? Thinking back to that day, Quinn tried to find anything in her memory that seemed out of her character, or out of Bill’s character, that could explain who she always felt so guilty.

* * *

 

_The Christmas holidays were over for the students of Hogwarts, so once again the station was fill with witches and wizards, many of which were commenting on the vast quantity of muggles. Older students, currently in their 6 th year of schooling, who had in the last three months lost the trace were using their new-found freedom, by using the levitating charm to carry their trunks, while the 7th years were reminiscing on the first time they had been able to do that and the pure relief they had felt in the ease of carrying their trunk._

_In the corner of the station, a red-haired family, currently accompanied by a raven-haired girl in her 7 th year, said their final goodbyes to each other before term started again. The eldest boy was hugging his younger siblings with a look of both fear and excitement on his face, something that wasn’t missed by the dark-head girl._

_“William? What’s wrong?” She asked him as she took his hands in hers a slight smile on her face._

_“Nothing,” He spoke, the girl not for a second buying it. “Last night I was owled by Gringotts.” There was a slight pause while Bill tried to work out his words. “They offered me a job as a curse breaker.”_

_“That’s great! That’s what you have wanted-”_

_“You didn’t let me finish.” Bill spoke his voice shaking. “I’m not taking it, Q. It is in Egypt and the chances of you getting a substantial job offer there as well and I can’t leave you.”_

_“William, don’t worry about me we will find a way of making it work,” Quinn stated as she looked up at Bill. “Even in we have to just owl each other for a while, I’m sure I can find a job in Egypt, even if it is a muggle job.”_

_“I can’t do that to you.”_

_“William, you can’t not take this job. It is a great opportunity. It’s your dream, has been since your ears shrivelled up.” Quinn spoke as her eyes met his._

_“I won’t leave you.”_

_“Then I’m sorry,” Quinn spoke dropping his hands as her face fell, she knew what she had to do. She couldn’t be the reason he turned down the job of a life time. “I can’t let you throw this away for me, I love you too much William.”_

_“What do you mean?”_

_“If you are going to give it all up for me, then I can’t be with you.” Quinn spoke stepping back tears pooling in her eyes. “Not because I don’t love you, because trust me I do, more than any other. That is why I can’t let you throw it away for me. I’m sorry.”_

_“Quinn!” Bill called after the raven-haired girl who had walked off towards the train holding back her tears hoping that she could get onto the train and into a compartment before they fell._

* * *

 

“Q,” Bill’s voice spoke pulling Quinn from the memory that made her feel as though her heart was 2 tectonic plates rubbing together causing tsunamis of emotion.

“Yeah,” she spoke looking up at him hoping that her eyes were hiding how she was feeling well enough.

“You were off in your own world.” He stated causing Quinn to force a smile onto her face much to Bill’s annoyance. He had thought that she had let him in, that she had stopped hiding herself behind a mask, but from the weakness of her smile and her unmatching eyes he knew that she hadn’t.

Going back to their chores, the duo allowed the taciturnity to claim the room once more, each second it got thicker than the last. Each moment that the two spent in the room was as though secret forces were asking them to reveal their deepest and darkest desires and their most supreme secrets. However, as the silence began to get thicker and more unnerving, Quinn’s mind began to dart to notes and words that paired together. For as long as she could remember Quinn’s mind had done this, allowing her to express her feelings more thoroughly than most other people.

“You’re turning the room purple,” Bill chuckled as he looked between the ceiling and the singing woman. Since she had started, a warm purple glow had filled the room causing a warm-hearted chuckle to leave the witches mouth.

“I didn’t even realise I was singing.” Quinn stated as she looked around her at the dimming purple glow until it was completely extinguished. “I still haven’t worked out why that happens, or why my eyes are blue. No-one had.”

“You would look odd without blue eyes,” Bill thought aloud as he smiled at the woman. “A bit like you look odd without your glasses on.”

“Please don’t say that in front of your mum, she will make me wear them and they annoy me more than Crouch does.” Quinn pleaded as Bill pulled his wand out of his back pocket casting the summoning charm. In a matter of seconds, he had a purple glasses case that caused Quinn to openly roll her eyes. “Please no.”

“Miss Riddle can you even see without your glasses on?”

“Yes,” Quinn spoke with an element of confidence on her voice. “Just don’t ask me to read anything.”

Chuckling, Bill unfolded the arms of her glasses and placed them onto her face making sure not to get any of her hair trapped in the process. “That’s better.” He whispered, now only centimetres from Quinn, their faces almost touching.

Then, as they stood hearts beating faster than a hummingbird’s wings, the duo forgot about their walls. They forgot about the damned day on the platform. In that moment, there was nothing in the past and the future was an eternity away. In that moment, there was only them.

“I’m just getting a drink!” A voice called from the door behind the duo breaking their moment. Blinking back to reality, the duo heard a groan from behind them that made them chuckle together. “Mum’s going to kill me and my off timing.”

Laughing at the second eldest Weasley boy, Quinn stepped away from Bill and back towards the washing up bowl that she had abandoned during the glasses conversation. Finishing up the last thing, Quinn smiled as she saw Charlie looking bright red and taking as long as possible to make his drink hoping that Molly would not know that he interrupted something that could have led to more.


	5. "Did you know she was still in here?"

Sitting in the arm chair in the corner of the Weasley living room, [Quinn](https://www.polyvore.com/did_you_know_she_was/set?id=225680824) pulled the blanket, that Molly had brought her as the evening got colder, tighter around her shivering body. Since the planning for the 2 upcoming events had started, and Quinn had stopped eating properly, she had been feeling the cold more quickly than before. Molly had acted more like a mother to Quinn in the last 24 hours than her own mother had in the last 6 years, and the 21-year-old couldn’t be more grateful. However much to the 21-year-old’s hidden annoyance, Molly, in efforts to care for her, had begun closely monitoring her eating habits to ensure that she was keeping a balanced diet. Even as she sat in the arm chair, reading her book in the light of the lamp beside her, Quinn could feel Molly’s worried eyes on her. Smiling to the greying woman Quinn pushed the feeling to the back of her mind before returning to her book.

In the dimly lit room, Quinn gripped her book tightly in her hands, her fingertips eager to turn the next page. Her mind was gripping tightly onto each word that had been effortlessly printed on to the page. If her family could have seen her in that moment, she would have been disowned all over again. Each word that had been chosen for the page had been chosen by a muggle. Quinn didn’t care. Her family would have been disgusted. Part of Quinn enjoyed the thought of disgusting her family, especially now they were a constant shadow looming over her life.

As Quinn’s eyes fleeted over each stanza of the current poem, her mind flicked to how each and every adjective, metaphor and simile had been carefully chosen by the poet, they were an insight into the poet’s heart. That was why Quinn loved poetry so much, a stranger was inviting you into the very depths of their life. From reading it she felt ever emotion the poet felt, saw everything the poet saw. That is what always had Quinn hanging on every word.

This particular book she had owned since the summer she ran away from Malfoy Manor, coincidentally it was the first item she owned in the Weasley home. Quinn had picked it out in hopes that it would make her mind focus on something other than the upcoming year at school, the year that would most likely be the hardest yet. She had chosen it out of the many others there due to the looming simplicity of the cover joined with the fact that the moment she had seen the book Quinn had wanted to read it.

Tracing the tear stains, Quinn smiled at the memories of reading the book under the tree by the black lake or in the Gryffindor Common Room after she had snuck in with the 2 Weasley boys. Each splash of tears of the page was a memory that the girl was thankful she hadn’t given up in efforts to get over Bill.

“Have you ever read a different book?”

“You know I have William,” Quinn spoke not for a second taking her eyes off her book as she did. Smiling at the familiar picture, of the Riddle curled up in an arm chair with a book in her hands and a blanket wrapped around her figure, the eldest Weasley pulled the stool, he had been left to sit on, beside the arm chair looking over her shoulder.

“I don’t think I saw you with a different, non-educational, book at all during your 5th year.” Bill smiled as he picked up the glass of water from the floor sipping it carefully as he knew of even a splash hit the book the owner would go crazy, even if it was already flooded with tears.

“I did get it the summer before that year,” Quinn stated as she placed it down on her lap, stretching her arms as she let out a quick yawn. “I found it in a box in the twin’s room, where we are staying, that was labelled Quinn’s. I guess I left it here when I moved out.”

“Really? That book was your life, how did you leave it?” Bill questioned his face filled with confusion as he watched the girl move in the chair so her whole body was facing him.

“I was a different person when I left here, I guess it didn’t mean the same thing to me then.” Quinn sighed as she thought about how she had changed between her final year at Hogwarts and her last day at the burrow. Part of her had been stolen when she learnt about the Ministry’s view in her, only now was she getting that part back.

“Read me something.”

“What?”

“You heard me, Q, read me something.” Bill spoke as he looked at the women who had a slight smile on her face. “Like you used to.”

“Okay.” She spoke her smile not for a second faltering. “Which poem?”

“One of yours.”

“I don’t write anymore,” Quinn lied pulling her eyes from Bill’s face in hopes of hiding the truth from him. “I can read you one of theses.”

“Sure,” Bill sighed deciding not to push her any further than he already had that day. “Read your favourite one.”

“Okay,” Quinn smiled as she flicked to the page that Bill had been expecting her to turn to. As the words left her mouth, both of the adult’s minds floated to the many nights in the Gryffindor Common Room in their final year of mutual schooling.

* * *

 

_Flames danced in the fireplace of the Gryffindor Common Room as the snow fell from the sky outside the castle. However, none of the students paid any attention to the snow that was falling outside, for many of them this was their last Christmas with their friends, and soon many of them were leaving to see their family. Gifts were exchanged between students in badly wrapped packages with carefully written notes pinned to the wrappings._

_Yet, in the arm chair beside the fire the oldest Weasley boy was sat with the girl whose presence in the Gryffindor Common Room no longer shocked the rest of the house. After running from her home the summer before, the Riddle had been getting more grief from the rest of her house than she had originally so was given permission by the head of Gryffindor to use their Common Room rather than her own. Both of the duo’s eyes were flicking across the words in the book the youngest was gripping as they tried to ignore the signs that their time together was being cut short._

_“How after the grey apocalypse that no-one else noticed you realised that trees hold hands beneath the earth,” Quinn read aloud with a smile on her face. “how you learnt to hold hands beneath the earth.”_

_“I’m going to miss this when I leave,” Bill sighed as he looked at the Riddle, his eyes having lost their shine that they had previously. “Sitting by the fire, you quoting lines you love. It will be odd.”_

_“Well, you will only have to wait 2 years,” Quinn smiled as she placed her book page down on the table beside them as she took his hand in her own. “Then I will be done here and we can go back to spending our free time together.”_

_“What makes you think we will still be together then?”_

_“The fact that you told me 3 weeks ago, ‘Q, I would walk away from a thousand Veelas if you called out my name in a crowd’.”_

_“Your impressions seriously need work Q.” Bill chuckled as he pushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear before pushing her glasses back up her nose. “But your horrific impressions are one of the things I love about you.”_

_“One of them?”_

_“Well, I can list them if you like,” Bill stated as Quinn smirked at him. “I love the way you laugh way too much, even when the joke wasn’t that funny. I love your smile, even though you think it is too wide and too toothy. I love your oddly bright blue eyes. But most of all, I love the fact that you love with every inch of your being.”_

_Blushing a vibrant red that matched Bill’s robes, Quinn looked away from him and towards the fire that was crackling. However, after a second of looking away, Quinn’s face was turned back towards Bill who was smiling his eyes glistening the way they always did._

_“I love you Quinn Riddle.”_

_“I love you too William Weasley.”_

* * *

 

“Everything you have ever lost is here,” Quinn spoke her heart fluttering in her chest as she came back to reality. “And it is waiting to come home.”

Looking up, Quinn’s eyes met Bill’s once again pulling her to a place where the last 4 years had been different. As she looked at his crystal blue eyes, she was transported to a place where they didn’t live worlds apart. However, as bill tucked a stray strand of hair behind Quinn’s ear a horrid noise echoed through the walls from the attic. A small chuckle left Bill’s mouth as Quinn rolled her eyes, part of her hated the ghoul in that moment, the other thanked it. It was never going to work between them, there was too much that got in the way now. Not matter how hard she tried, Quinn couldn’t shake the feeling that Bill was the one.

“That Ghoul!” Molly exclaimed from behind the duo causing them to jump due to their belief that they were the only people in the room. “Ronald!”

“Did you know that she was still in here?” Quinn questioned as she yawned once again.

“No, I thought she left when you started reading.” Bill smiled causing Quinn’s heart to flutter in her chest.

“I should really speak to your brother at some point, he’s gonna start thinking I am avoiding him.” Quinn yawned stretching her arms out as she did. For Quinn that day had been both physically and emotionally exhausting. For the first time in forever she had done something other than sitting at a desk for hours on end, 3 years of that took its toll.

“Quinn, I do believe you should go to bed,” Molly spoke as she walked back into the room, looking disapprovingly at the dark-haired woman. “Don’t want you in the state you were before, do we now.”

“Not at all Molly,” Quinn smiled, her expression sickly sweet to hide the annoyance at the babying of the woman. “I will go up now.”

“Goodnight dear,” Molly spoke as she held Quinn in a motherly embrace before placing a kiss on her cheek.

“Goodnight Molly.” The girl smiled as she climbed the stairs towards the room she was sharing with the 2 oldest Weasleys. For the first time in forever, Quinn fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.


	6. “Was that salt I heard in your voice Riddle?”

The day that Harry was arriving had come around faster than any of the numerous people under the Weasley roof could have expected, causing an anxious Molly to run around cleaning up the house for the moment that was coming ever closer. Smiling at the thought of meeting yet another honorary Weasley, [Quinn](https://www.polyvore.com/was_that_salt_heard_in/set?id=225697583) did her part around the house to stop Molly from worrying as much as she was.

Over the day, Molly had cleaned the living room twice, both times burying Hermione’s school books under piles of Quinn’s files that were still remaining for the raven-haired girl to complete; yelled at the twins on numerous occasions for causing explosions that shook the house, causing dust to coat surfaces all over the house; re-arranged Ron’s room in an effort to try and make it more comfortable for the 4 boys that were going to be sleeping in there; and finally, she had attempted to cut Bill’s hair, only to be stopped by Ginny and Quinn who had come in from the garden after yet another friendly game of Quidditch. Over all, Molly had not sat down for a second since the sun had rose that morning.

By the time 4:30 came about, Molly had cleaned every surface of the house thrice and re-arranged the table at least 5 times before realising that there was no way the entire family, along with the extras, were going to fit around the table. As Quinn watched Arthur glance at her watch, she laughed silently to herself. From the looks of it they weren’t going to get to Harry for 5, even if they were taking the Floo Network.

“Q, can you help me in here?” Bill asked from behind the girl who simply nodded at him with a look of shock on her face. He was optionally spending time with her, though it wasn’t as much of a surprise as it would have been when he first arrived. Over the last 48 hours, Quinn and Bill had gotten to a place of mutual understanding and were able to spend time in the same room without an awkward silence. However, there was still the odd moment between them that made the duo believe that the spark that had been placed between them was still there.

“Washing up duty again?” Quinn asked remembering the events of last time they had ended up doing the washing up. Smiling at the girl as he nodded, Quinn held out her hands to take a tea towel to dry the plates. No matter what the duo seemed to prefer doing the chores by hand than by magic, even if they did break a mug last time.

“Somehow, Mum believes that forcing us to wash up together will make us fall madly in love, again,” Bill chuckled as he threw the tea towel to Quinn who caught it easily. “Not lost your knack for catching things then.”

“Quidditch Captain isn’t something you get with a _knack_.” Quinn spoke after hitting Bill with the towel in her hand. “It’s called a talent.”

“Sorry, ma’am.” Bill spoke overexaggerating a bow.

“Shut up Weasley.”

“Was that salt I heard in your voice Riddle?” Bill questioned causing Quinn to nod her head at him with a smirk on her face. Just as Quinn was about to hit Bill with the tea towel again, Molly walked in causing the duo to go back to what they were supposed to be doing with looks of innocence on their faces.

Molly remained at the base of the stairs silent for a moment before stepping away and into the kitchen where she made herself a drink of water. Never had she been as busy as she had been that day, unless you counted the summer of 87 when she had all her boys, Ginny and Quinn in her home at once, along with the occasional addition of Avery Diggory and Penelope Clearwater. However, a Molly always loved a full house, even if she was always cleaning up after someone.

After a few minutes of not worrying about anything and listening to the casual conversation that was going on between Quinn and Bill, she hated eaves-dropping but Molly had always loved Quinn and hated to see her and her eldest unhappy, Molly checked her watch. Eyes widening with shock, Molly stepped back towards the base of the stairs her hand tapping on the banister for a moment.

“BOYS!” Molly cried up the stairs, causing Quinn to jump and drop the plate in her hands. Cursing under her breath Quinn pulled her wand out of her boot and circled it above the plate as she watched it jump back together. Looking up at Bill who had turned his attention to her after hearing the crashing of the plate impacting the floor

“Arthur! It is already quarter past 5!” Molly exclaimed saving Quinn from the question. “You said you would be there at 5!”

“I don’t want to be your dad,” Quinn whispered to Bill as he moved next her to watch the rest of the Weasley boys, with the exception of Charlie and Percy, rush around each of them avoiding eye contact with their mother.

“I don’t want to be my siblings either.” Bill whispered back as he saw Fred and George stuff something into their pockets and give the duo a wink that they had paired with a smirk.

“Everyone’s coming in!” Quinn exclaimed as she pulled Bill back towards the sink, feeling as though they were young all over again. Watching as they Weasleys made their way into the fireplace, Bill and Quinn continued to wash and dry the items in their hands to avoid further questions or attention.

“Molly-”

“5:30!”

“Sorry!”

“Don’t make any mess you two,” Molly sighed towards the duo who were both fighting back laughs that tried to push past their lips. Watching as the 2 wore matching smirks and were fleeting between her and eye contact, Molly smiled before she heard a crash from the living room where Charlie was. “Charles Weasley!” She cried as she stormed out of the kitchen, the smile no longer on her face.

Glancing back at each other, Quinn and Bill finally let out the laughs that they had been holding back. Bill laughing was like ripples in a still pond after a stone has been thrown in. It radiated outwards filling the home with its musicality and wholeness. As she stood, her eyes still filled with the laughter, that she had managed to stop leaving her mouth, Quinn felt her heart become filled with Bill’s laughter that lingered even after he had stopped.

While Quinn was fixated on how Bill’s laughter had filled her heart, Bill was fixated on how, with Quinn, a laugh wasn’t a noise that left her mouth. Laughing was in her eyes, in the way her face changed into a vision of relaxed joy and unrestrained mirth. Yet truly, it wasn't in her face either. Her laugh came from within, it was just the way she was wired. People like her just have more flexible brains, like all that humour floating around in her was like yoga for the synapses. The surprising part, for Bill, was the fact that never before had he realised this. In all the years that he had known her he had never realised that just being around her for a few minutes was better than a whole day of relaxing in the sun by the Nile.

As Bill smiled at Quinn, fixated by the laughter she held within, the raven-haired girl had managed to dip her hands into the washing up bowl. Pulling her hand back, Quinn flicked the water at Bill forcing him back to reality. A flicker of mischief filled Bill’s eyes as he looked between Quinn and the water.

“Did you just do that?”

“I don’t know what you are on about William?”

“Oh, you’re on!” As he spoke he pulled the other hand from the water flicking it at Quinn’s face causing the water droplets to settle on her glasses and a squeal to leave her mouth.

Still holding the tea towel in her hand, Quinn smirked - just a small pouting of the lips; a narrowing of the eyes and a tilting of the head. It was so subtle, it was even more infuriating for Bill who caught a glimpse of it after making the foolish mistake. He had started a war with Quinn Riddle, the chances were he was going to lose.

While Bill’s eyes lingered on Quinn’s smirk, he failed to notice that the washing up bowl behind him had begun to levitate above his head. Stepping back to save herself from the splashes of water, Quinn watched as the water soaked his hair and clothes.

“You are on Q!” Bill cried as she chased the woman around the kitchen. The raven-haired woman squealed as she almost tripped over the table multiple times before slipping in the pool of water she had made on the floor. Crossing over to help her up, Bill didn’t watch where he put his feet and ended up falling onto Quinn.

“William, you are crushing me,” Quinn groaned.

“Sorry,” Bill stated pushing himself off the ground to stand before her. Putting out his hand, Bill pulled Quinn up causing her body to rest against him, their eyes meeting.

In that moment, Quinn looked into Bill’s eyes, really looked into his eyes, for the first time. Bill’s eyes held his humanity, the person he really was. There were times it got lost before, like when he got riled up at his younger sibling and yelled at them. Yet, in that moment, in the dimming evening light, Quinn saw the love that burnt there too, the sort that lingers in a person’s eyes for an eternity and clings to their soul for much longer. This caused Quinn’s heart to ache more than it ever had before, she had seen that look of love die before, watched as the flames that fuelled his love and desire extinguished. She had been the cause.

Lifting her hand up, Quinn traced her thumb across Bill’s cheek bone ridding it of the eyelash that had landed in his skin. Holding it out before him, Quinn let her eyes drift from his eyes to his lips for a second.

“Make a wish,” She whispered.

“I already have everything in this moment,” Bill stated as his eyes trailed from Quinn’s eyes to her lips matching her movement from before.

Leaning down, Bill’s face lingered inches away from hers for a moment, a moment that seemed to have lasted for a lifetime. Desire in Quinn’s stomach was burning too ferociously for her to wait any longer. Taking the situation into her own hands, Quinn pushed herself onto her toes, her lips touching his and a warm tingling feeling filled her own. The kiss obliterated Quinn’s every thought, for the first time in forever her mind was locked into the present. No longer did her mind linger on the way she was going to affect the people around her, or what was going to happen when the World Cup was over. The only thing that filled her mind was how the kiss was more than she had expected it to be.

In a similar way to Quinn, Bill was drunk on endorphins his only desire was to make contact with Quinn. In moments, the soft caress has become more firm, he savoured her lips and the quickening of her breath that matched his own. A kiss like this was a beginning. Pulling away, Bill watched as Quinn nervously bit her lower lip her bright blue eyes wide as they looked up at him. Now her cheeks were a vibrant red that prickled as they turned more so.

“Sorry.” Bill spoke suddenly aware of what had just happened.

“What for? I kissed you.” Quinn stated as the hand that was sat on the small of her back moved towards her face pushing a stray strand of hair out of her face. As Bill’s hand made contact with her face, Quinn rested her face on it the contact making her smile.

“In that case you won’t mind if I do this,” Bill smirked leaning down, crashing his lips onto hers. He kissed her and, once again, the world fell away. It was slow and soft, reminding Quinn of every night by the fire with him. Their right hands were still intertwined from where he had helped her from the floor and Bill’s left hand rested below her ear, his thumb caressing her cheek as their breaths mingled. Trailing her left hand from where it rested on Bill’s stomach Quinn allowed it to linger on his chest where she felt his heart beat at an accelerated speed. Once again, Bill was the one to pull away not wanting to take anything too far and push her away before he even got her back.

The duo stood in silence for a moment, both smiling as if there was no evil in the world. As if in that moment they were the only two people on the earth’s surface. However, as Quinn opened her mouth to say more there was a cough sounding from beside them. Following the sound of the cough, Quinn’s face turned the colour of Ron’s jumper as she saw him stood with 3 other boys.

The tallest turned to the youngest red head with a smirk, “Ron, you owe me 3 galleons.”


	7. "Merlin, I sound like your Mother!"

The hum of George’s laugh filled the Weasley kitchen as he watched his oldest brother’s face turn as red as Ron’s jumper. Bill wasn’t the kind of person to get embarrassed easily, in fact the last time he was embarrassed was when Molly had walked in on him and Charlie discussing his relationship with Quinn. The sentence that had left his mouth was now a regular statement around the Weasley house when someone found an item that belonged to the dark-haired woman.

Looking around the room, both Bill and Quinn began hoping that the ground would swallow them whole. Suddenly the pair realised that their hands were still intertwined, letting go, the pair jumped back putting enough space between them while still being close. Both of them knew that they had to talk about what had just happened, but then was definitely not the time to do so.

“Mum’s gonna kill you,” Ron spoke as his eyes met the pool of water that had caused the entire moment to happen in the first place. Eyes widening with fear, Bill and Quinn turned to face the pool, both of them cursing into oblivion. Picking her wand up from the table, Quinn quickly pointed her wand at the water guiding it back into the washing up bowl. Turning back, Quinn looked at Harry who was now stood eyes and mouth wide open. The boy may be starting his 4th year at Hogwarts but he was still amazed at magic every so often.

“I’m Quinn by the way,” Quinn smiled holding her hand out to the boy who shook it after staring at her for a moment. Internally screaming at the awful first impression she must have just had, Quinn managed to keep a straight face as she introduced herself. However, as her eyes fixed on the fact that he looked so familiar, like she had seen him before. Maybe she had, he was famous after all, but it was more like she had met him before. It was more than just appearance that was familiar to Quinn, it was his person, the way he had stood.

“I think I have met you before,” Harry stated as he looked at Quinn who was stood still trying to work out where he had known her from. “You were at Diagon Alley when I was there with Hagrid. Hagrid said you were an old friend of his, an old student from Hogwarts.”

“That’s right,” Quinn smiled. “I was coming out of Gringotts as you were going in. That must have been a while ago, I wasn’t working for the ministry then.”

“About 3 years.”

“That makes sense,” Quinn stated looking down at her shoes before looking back up and smiling. “Well it’s good to see you again.”

“And you.”

Each of the remaining Weasleys looked at each other shocked by the fact that Quinn had ran into Harry before, when she arrived she was a complete workaholic. It looked as though she hadn’t left the ministry in weeks, yet there she was having a conversation with Harry about how they ran into each other at Gringotts. However, for Quinn that had been a lifetime ago, it was before she knew how she really was seen. Back then she wasn’t afraid of being seen with other people, she welcomed old friends with open arms.

Stepping forward, Bill tried to ignore the slight squelch in his step that was caused by Quinn dousing him in water from the washing up bowl. However, as he stepped closer to Harry it was more obvious. Glaring back at Quinn, Bill mouthed ‘just wait’ causing Quinn to raise her eyebrow innocently.

“Bill, not as much like Percy as everyone thinks,” Bill chuckled causing Quinn to roll her eyes at him and the twins to snigger at the raven-haired girl’s actions. “It’s true, all they tell you is I work for a bank and was head boy, everyone thinks I am like Percy.”

“Definitely not like Percy,” Harry spoke still getting used to Bill’s appearance. “In all honesty, I thought you were Charlie.” At this comment Quinn let out a small laugh before clasping her hand over her mouth, her eyes still holding the laugh that was threatening to leave her mouth. “Why was that funny?”

“Charlie is more like Percy,” Quinn spoke quickly before clasping her hand back over her mouth desperate not to let her first conversation with Harry be full of her laughing at things he said.

“He is not!” The twins cried in unison, something that had always creeped Quinn out.

“You two did not spend 7 years in his classes at Hogwarts.” Quinn stated as she looked over at Bill who looked just as confused as the others at her statement. “He is such a spoil sport. I even tried to talk once and he would go on a 5-minute rant about how if we had a conversation we would fail and end up in muggle jobs.”

“One time!” Charlie exclaimed from behind Quinn, who turned around with an overexaggerated smile on her face, her teeth flashing at him. “Can I also point out that this was in Potions with Snape. Not only was I a Gryffindor and Quinn a Slytherin but Snape was like an older brother to Quinn until she was 9. I did something wrong and I got a detention, she did and it was just ‘Quinn I am warning you’.”

“Oh come off it, it was the same in Care for Magical Creatures, only you were the favourite.”

“That’s because you were always getting burnt by something or other.” Charlie stated causing Quinn to wait a moment before nodding at him. Glancing over Bill and Quinn, Charlie’s face turned confused. “Why are you and Bill wet?”

“She poured a washing up bowl of water over me.”

“Then why is Quinn soaked?”

“That is an excellent question Charlie,” George stated with a smirk on his face and a twinkle of mischief in his eyes.

“Why don’t you answer it Quinn,” Fred finished causing Quinn to hit him on the arm, a scowl on her face. This however only increased Charlie’s intrigue in that matter due to the limited number of things that could turn his older brother red, and at that moment his face was competing with his face on which could be brighter and his face was winning.

Before anyone could say anything else, there was a faint popping noise and Arthur appeared out of no-where. Turning to the twins, he looked angrier than any of the people in the kitchen had seen him in the time they had known him.

“That wasn’t funny Fred!” Arthur stated and for a second the shortest twin looked confused about what his father was meaning. What had gone on in the kitchen had claimed the most prominent spot in his mind, but as his father’s face grew angrier Fred remembered what he had done at the Dursley home. “What did you give that Muggle Boy!”

“I didn’t _give_ him anything,” Fred smirked looking at his father with a matter of a fact look that only made his face worse. “I only dropped it, he ate it himself. I didn’t force him.”

“You dropped it on purpose!” Arthur cried causing Bill, Quinn and Charlie to look at each other, each of their faces paler than any other. It was always Molly who yelled, Molly who disciplined. Arthur was always the one who stood there and watched, a sliver of pride in his eyes. Quinn could remember many times she had gone to the Weasley home the summer after hexing the Slytherin bullies and being scorned by Molly while Arthur just nodded at her.

“How big did his tongue get?” George asked enthusiastically causing Arthurs attention to turn to him, still not amused.

“It was about four-foot-long before his parents let me do anything about it!” The entire room burst with laughter, the oldest 3 hiding it behind coughs that didn’t fool Arthur who for the first time turned to them looking disappointed. “It isn’t funny! That kind of behaviour goes against everything I stand for! My own sons-”

“But we didn’t give it to him because he was a muggle,” Fred stated shaking his head at his father causing Quinn to put her head in her hand, they were never going to stop digging a bigger hole for themselves.

“We gave it to him because he is a bullying little git!”

“Language!” Quinn exclaimed clasping a hand over her mouth as she did, nothing like that had ever come out of her mouth. She didn’t care if they cursed, it was no different that she was at their age.

Looking at Quinn confused, George added to his earlier comment, “Harry can verify for us.”

“He’s right Mr Weasley.” Harry sighed solemnly rubbing the back of his neck slightly as he did, from the look on his face Quinn could tell he had hoped to be kept out of this as much as possible.

“That does not excuse it!” fulminated Arthur. “Wait until I tell your mother-”

“Tell me what?” Molly asked as she stepped through the door to the kitchen Ginny and Hermione on her heels, both of which’s eyes floated from Harry to Arthur to Quinn and Bill, who had inched further together as Arthur yelled.

“I’m going to go and dry myself up,” Quinn spoke awkwardly as she saw Molly’s eyes narrow with suspicion.

“Me too,” Bill added, as he did, Molly’s gaze moved to him and Quinn looking more suspicious than she had before.

“What happened to you two?”

“We were left to wash up unsupervised. You should know we are worse than those two,” Quinn gestured the twins before walking towards the stairs, but was stopped as she heard the sniggering form the twins. “They gave some muggle something that made his tongue grow.”

“Thanks Quinn,” the twins groaned before realising that they brought it upon themselves.

“She was going to find out any way. Ron had loose lips.”

“Do not!” Ron murmured defensively.

“You really do.” Quinn smirked before making her way further up the stairs none of the boys remaining wanting to let out what had happened because they knew Quinn probably had something on all of them.

Walking into the room she was sharing with the two oldest Weasley boys, Quinn rolled her eyes at the fact that in 2 days they had managed to mess the room up more than she had in almost 4. The room was the largest in the house, especially considering that it was holding two people and before Bill and Charlie had moved out had held 3. It smelt vaguely of gun powder and had multiple black marks on the walls where the twins had caused multiple explosions. For some reason, Quinn had felt more at home due to the hint of dangerous powder than she would have without it, though it probably had something to do with the numerous times she had woken to the sound of an unknown explosion form this room.

Stopping just in the doorway, Quinn waited for Bill to walk through the door, her mind filling with all the multiple things that could happen. Turning to face the door, Quinn began chewing on the inside of her cheek anxiously. What if the kiss was nothing to Bill? She wasn’t sure how she would react if that was the case. Part of Quinn wanted it to be nothing, that way it was easy to forget and move on when they went back to work. Yet the rest of her wanted it to be the start of everything, everything that she had ever dreamed of having with Bill. Everything the people around them had expected them to have.

“You decent?” Bill called through the door causing Quinn to loosen up slightly. He was her best friend at one point, there was nothing to worry about they were going to be fine no matter what.

“Yeah.” Quinn called out watching as Bill stepped through the door closing it behind him as he walked in. “I think we should talk.”

“So, do I,” Bill stated stepping into the room taking a seat on the bed that he was using while he was here. Crossing over to Bill, Quinn suddenly remembered that Ginny and the twins had a tendency to eaves drop. Moving over to the door, Quinn pulled her wand back out of her boot placing an Impertuable Charm on the door.

“Ginny likes eaves dropping if I remember correctly.” Proclaimed Quinn.

“I forgot how smart you were.” Bill smiled at Quinn as she moved to sit on the space next to him. Crossing her legs, Quinn looked down at her hands, chewing the inside of her cheek once more. “You only bit your cheek when you are anxious.”

“Maybe I am,” Quinn announced softly as she looked up at Bill who had taken her hands from her lap holding them in his own. His hands were unusually cold, but given the fact that Quinn had doused him in water less than 30 minutes prior to that moment it wasn’t as odd as it could have been. “What was it? We haven’t spoken in almost 4 years, was it that?”

“Q, these past 4 years-”

“Almost 4!”

“These past, almost, 4 years.” Bill chuckled looking at the raven-haired girl with a smile on his face. “I have spent trying to push you to the back of my mind. Everything I see reminds me of you. I spend every day I have off comparing the blue of the Nile to your eyes, the Nile falling short of your eyes by miles every time.”

“William-”

“I wasn’t finished.” Bill interrupted looking at Quinn whose eyes met his, slightly glazed with tears. “Q, I have spent these past, almost, 4 years trying to get over you. When I looked into your eyes earlier, I realised something that changes everything. Q, I realised that no matter what I did I would never forget you, I would never get over you. As I said before, I would walk away from a Veela for you.” Wiping a tear from Quinn’s cheek, Bill smiled at the slight smile that filled her face. “The truth is, I think I love you Quinn. After almost 4 years you still hold my heart.” Smiling at the ginger-haired man that sat before her, Quinn allowed the tears of relief fall from her eyes and streak her face with mascara. “Your turn Panda.”

“Shut up,” Quinn smirked looking at Bill who was trying to hide the crack in his voice as he spoke. “When I was told you were going to be coming back for the world cup I was scared. I thought that you hated me, but that wasn’t why I was scared. I was scared because I had spent the last, almost, 4 years trying to get over you, fighting the urge to write to you. I used to tell myself, _he hates you Quinn you saw his face when you walked away,_ hoping that it would stop me from thinking about you so much. It didn’t work.” Taking in a shaky breath, Quinn silently cured the fact that she was always so emotional. Luckily, Bill had been used to it due to knowing her when she was in Hogwarts, her emotions haywire for many reasons. “When you got here, I wasn’t sure I could face you. I ended up rushing around the house doing everything for everyone just to keep myself busy so I could avoid you, now I think I know why. I was afraid, still am. I am afraid of what happens when this week is over, when you go back to Egypt and I go to Hogwarts. We are already sailing on rocky waters; the distance will be an extra storm cloud making it worse.”

“What is it you used to say?” Bill asked looking at Quinn who was in tears, her eyes a watery black with mascara. Allowing a small smile to fill her face, Quinn looked up at Bill who was now holding her face in his hands wiping her face with his thumb. “We don’t grow when things are easy, we grow when…”

“We face challenges,” Quinn stated smiling at the fact that Bill remembered the words she had said so many times. Those words were the foundations of Quinn’s life, or at least they had been in Hogwarts.

“Even if I have to come back here every weekend until the Tournament is over I will. Q, this will work out if we let it.” Bill assured as he pushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

“Okay, but you are going to have to ask me properly. Especially considering you didn’t last time.” Stated Quinn as she sat up straight on the bed, her face no longer looking weak but determined.

“I did!”

“You didn’t, it kind of just happened.” Quinn spoke breathing in through her teeth and raising her shoulders.

“Okay,” Bill stated pulling Quinn up off the bed with him, holding her hands in his as he searched her eyes a smile filling his face. “Q, will you do me the honour of being my girlfriend?”

“I am going to have to think about it,” Quinn joked a smile firmly on her face as she did. Rolling his eyes, Bill leaned down placing a light kiss on her nose causing Quinn to scrunch it up. “Still thinking.”

“Maybe I can help you make your decision,” Bill smirked, leaning down once again placing his lips on hers. Bill’s kiss contained all the words they had just said, every emotion they had just let slip out of their mouths was brought together in the connection of his lips on Quinn’s. From that moment, Quinn knew that she was never going to lose him, he was always going to be hers no matter how much distance was between them. In the comfortable silence, everything that mattered was let out, all doubt that they had about ever being together again was gone. In that moment, they both knew that no matter what they were each other’s missing piece.

Pulling away from Bill, Quinn looked up at him their eyes meeting for a split second before she blinked and nodded. “To answer your question, yes.”

“Is it bad that I’m pretty sure my mother’s plan worked?”

“Yes, yes, it is.” Quinn chuckled as she walked over to her bed pulling her trunk out from under it. “Now, I would suggest you change before you catch a cold. Merlin, I sound like your Mother!”

“You have been doing it all day,” Bill stated as he pulled a new shirt from in his bag. “George tried telling me you were pregnant.”

“WHAT!”

“You are mothering everyone.” Bill shrugged as he watched Quinn step towards the door holding her clothes in her arms. “And you can hear a whisper. Ron called it Mother’s hearing.”

“I am going to kill your brothers!”

“Go ahead!”


	8. "You Two Aren't Fooling Anyone You Know."

Flying tables were something that Quinn should have been all too familiar with, but when she walked out of the kitchen, holding 12 plates in arms, and was faced with 2 tables flying miles above the ground, Quinn was still utterly shocked. Having worked at the Ministry, barely leaving its walls, for the 3 years prior to that moment, Quinn had become accustom to more refined uses of magic. Ducking around the only two people who it could have been flying the tables, Quinn let out a small laugh as a smile filled her face.

For only a split second, Bill took his eyes off the table, this slip up, however minute, allowed Charlie to knock his table to the ground. Thanking Quinn, Charlie looked at his older brother with a snug look on his face.

“Oh, come of it Charlie.” Bill groaned, lightly shoving his brother. “I got distracted.”

“That doesn't change the fact that,” Charlie pauses taking in a large breath before yelling, “I BEAT MY OLDER BROTHER!”

“Will you all please by quiet!” A voice yelled from an open window above them all, looking up those in the garden saw Percy leaning out of his window.

“Sorry Perce, I'll shut them up,” Quinn yelled up moving in-between the 2 eldest Weasleys and slapping each of their shoulders and earning an over exaggerated ‘ow!’ from both of them. “How are the cauldron bottoms coming along?”

“Badly,” snapped Percy before he slammed the window shut causing the eldest 3 to look between each other struggling to keep in their chuckles. In the time that Bill and Charlie had been back, the trio had, unknowingly, fallen back into their old habits from their time at Hogwarts.

“Oh Merlin!" Quinn exclaimed as she looked at her empty hands and then around the garden. “I put the plates down.”

“Dinner is cancelled!” Ron yelled from behind the trio causing Quinn's mouth to open wide in offence and the Weasleys boys to let out a quick laugh before hiding it with a cough.

Brow furrowed in confusion, Harry looked to Ron and asked, “Why?”

“When Quinn puts something down it's gone for good,” Ron stated causing Quinn to nod slightly. “It's like Neville and his toad only the plates can't hop up into your hand.”

“No Ronald because that would be magic,2 Quinn spoke sarcastically pulling her wand from her boot and casting the summoning charm. After a few seconds, the plates jumped back into Quinn's hand, “Dinners back on!”

By 7 the 2 tables were creaking under pots of Molly’s cooking, Harry’s eyes grew wide as he sat beside Ron and Hermione who were at the end of the table. From what Quinn had heard over the past 4 days, Harry’s aunt and uncle were not at all nice people. Judging from the way that he was pilling up his plate and how skinny he was, they were the biggest fans of Harry.

“Bill, I have tried to ignore it,” Molly stated from opposite Quinn as she looked at Bill who was sat next to her. “But that earring. With a great fang on it as well! Dare I ask what they say at the bank?”

“Mum, they don’t care what I look like,” Bill stated patiently. “All they care about is me bringing home plenty of treasure.”

“Your hair is getting silly now dear,” Molly spoke as she held her wand in her hands, her fingers tapping on in eagerly. A smirk made its way onto Quinn’s face as she raised an eyebrow accusingly at Molly. “I only want to give it a little trim.”

“I like it,” Quinn interjected causing Molly take her hand off her wand giving up on trying to have Bill cut his hair. “I could never imagine Bill with short hair, it’s not him.”

“Thank you, Q,” Bill spoke looking at the woman with a smile on his face. This small interaction was enough to set Molly’s brain flying, although they had been having small moments like that throughout the time Bill had been back, this was different.

“I only want to take a few inches off,” Molly pushed further.

“No, last time I let you do that you almost completely scalped me.” Bill exclaimed causing Quinn to let out a laugh as she remembered that time. She had come back for the Christmas break and Molly had cut Bill’s hair so short that in places there was nothing left.

“If anyone needs to cut their hair it is Charlie,” Quinn stated as she ate the potatoes on her plate. “He works with Dragons, that is a safety risk if I ever saw one.”

“You are right Quinn!” Molly exclaimed moving down the table to where Charlie was sat and repeating her words to Bill to Charlie.

“Thank you,” Bill whispered to the raven-haired girl.

“No problem.” Quinn smiled before looking down the table. “This is a lot of washing up.”

“We are going to be busy.”

By the time the Weasleys, Harry, Hermione and Quinn had finished at dinner the sky was darkening and the simple glow of the candles that Arthur had conjured earlier that evening to fight off the darkness. As Quinn leaned back in her chair, a yawn left her mouth, her arms stretching wide as it did.

“I think it is time everyone went to bed, especially you it’s a busy day tomorrow.” Molly stated as she saw Quinn. “I’ll do the washing up quickly, unlike those two who always do it by hand.”

“It’s easier.” Quinn spoke as she yawned, this time louder. She was confused at why she was so tired, she had slept quite well the previous night. Picking up her plate, glass and cutlery, she walked towards the house followed by Bill and Charlie who knew if they waited she would wake up when they went up. They had done that a few nights prior, they did not plan on making that mistake again. “Goodnight Weasleys, Harry, Hermione.”

“Night,” those left at the table called back as they watched her walk into the kitchen placing the washing up by the sink for Mrs Weasley.

“You two don’t have to come in,” Quinn smiled as she turned to face the eldest Weasleys. “You can wait a bit longer.”

“We really can’t,” Charlie retorted quickly looking at her with raised eyebrows. “We woke you up last time. Don’t want to do that again, you screamed the house down.”

“Not my fault,” Quinn muttered under her breath as she sighed at the two boys who understood what she meant. Her past had made her senses heightened and stole any safety she could have possibly felt.

“Now, are we going up or not?”

Laughing at Charlie as he jumped up the stairs making a hell of a racket as he did, Quinn and Bill followed him up. After Quinn had changed in the bathroom, she made her way into the bed room curling up in the bed she was sleeping in.

“You two aren’t fooling anyone you know,” Charlie whispered as he closed his eyes.

“Don’t know what you mean,” Quinn and Bill said in unison as they both closed their eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Green light flashed across the darkness of Quinn's eyelids, a scream echoing in her mind. A memory that she knew all too well, one that had never belonged to her in the first place. It had only ever been a dream that was oh so real in another's mind. The red-haired woman's terror, her love for her child, her sacrifice. It was a story the entire wizarding world knew but had never seen. Quinn saw it behind her eyelids more that she would like. 

Often it was silent and all she would see was the fear in the woman’s green eyes, her father's hooded figure looking back at her in the reflection. Yet, sometimes, much like that night, Quinn saw the green flash and heard her scream and then nothing. The eerie silence was always the worst part. The echo of her scream dimming down to nothing, the only thing that competed with it was watching the life leave her eyes.

However, the night before the World Cup Halloween at Goodrich Hollow was not the only thing that played behind Quinn's eyelids. That night many different memories disguised as nightmares filled the darkness of Quinn's mind. The ice-cold glare of her father's brown eyes, the time she had wandered down to the cellar, so many different memories that cursed Quinn's childhood made their way to the surface that night. Each one was like watching a movie play out in her mind, there was always parts missing whether it be sound or image, none of the memories was whole.

“Daddy,” a young girl around 4 spoke, her voice filled with a tone of question, as she sat at a piano, her legs swinging as they dangled off the stool she was sat on. Her fingers danced across the piano creating elegant sounds that filled each dark crevice of the house. “What happens if you die?”

“I have ways of coming home Quinn, that is not a worry you have. “The dark-haired man, who would never have been seen as the monster he truly was, answered as he a curly haired woman with a sneer on her face stepped into the room. “You have to go with Auntie Bella now.”

The girl screamed and kicked as the curly haired woman dragged her away to torture that she knew was coming up. Quinn could still feel the pain of the curse running through her body as if it was happening at the very moment she was watching it behind her eyelids. The way that the curse attacked her mind not just her body, she squirmed in pain screams erupting from her mouth but taking with them no sound.

Next was flashes of men and women dresses in black walking through the house she had so loosely called home, each of them wrapped in a snarl meant only for her. As a child Quinn hadn't recognise the looks on their face, but as she saw them once again, now older and more mature, Quinn recognised them for what they were. Each of the followers wore looks of envy and hatred, her father treated her as an equal not a servant or a means to an end. She, a child who always wore a smile and had conversations with the house elves in regular basis, was where they all wished they could be.

Finally, Severus' face entered her mind, her father's cloaked figure walking out the door. The 9-year-old Quinn screamed for him to stay as the anxious feeling in her stomach grew more prominent. Her small body being lifted by the 20-year-old who was like an older brother, the girl screamed until she had lost all her energy and gave up. However, it was the moment she had given up that the screams and green light had first entered her mind and would stay until her dying day.

Shooting upright, Quinn places her head on her hands her heart beating fast in her chest. In that very moment, she was more out breath that she could ever remember being. Pushing she hair back out of her face, Quinn looked beside her to see the other two boys still soundly asleep. Hands shaking, Quinn turned to look at the clock beside her groaning, quietly, as it flashed 3:30. Tying her hair back, Quinn tried to round up her thoughts. She had just remembered moments of her life she had never thought about twice before. That time on the piano was nothing, those faces were nothing, what Bella had done to her was nothing, none of the moments were important to anyone but her. Why had her mind forced her to remember them?

Sitting awake for around half an hour, Quinn decided to move to the kitchen where she would at least get some quiet to think. As much as she loved Bill and Charlie, Weasley boys had a tendency to snore. Cautiously, Quinn made her way down the stairs, careful not to make too much noise and waking the ghoul. Luckily, she made it down the stairs without waking anyone from their slumber, including the ghoul.

Opening the door to the garden, Quinn stepped out of the burrow, taking a deep breath as the cool breeze hit her face. One thing that Quinn had missed up until the 21st was the fresh breeze of the countryside. Something about it was always calming to Quinn.

Sitting down on the grass, Quinn didn’t care that it was already slightly dewy and wet her PJ’s. All she cared about was how the open space felt like a cold drink in the middle of summer when compared to where she had been staying for the half a dozen months previous. Even with the slight bite in the air, Quinn would have chosen this over her stuffy office multiple times. Taking in a deep breath of fresh air, Quinn hadn’t realised that another person had woken up and seen her out of the window, deciding to ensure she was okay.

“Can't sleep either?” A voice asked from behind Quinn. The voice was not as familiar as many of the others that she had considered she may hear as she stood outside the Burrow.

“No, it's hard to explain why.” Quinn stated as she turned to see the dark haired green-eyed boy stood looking back at her. Glancing at his eyes, Quinn saw his mother stood defending him in the back of her mind. “Has anyone ever told you that you have your mother's eyes?”

“A few people,” Harry chuckled as he watched Quinn sit down on the ground and stare up at the stars. Joining her, Harry wondered how it was that she had met the Weasleys. Charlie had said she was a Slytherin and Hermione had told him she was a Riddle, yet she didn't act like either of those things. “How did you know my mother?”

“I didn't,” Quinn sighed at she looked at Harry realising the fault in her previous words. “When he killed her, I saw it. I'm sure that Hermione has told you who I am, she is truly a beautifully smart girl. For some reason, I saw everything that happened that night.” Breathing out, her breath shaky as the memory of that night threatened to fill her mind again. “I don't want to tell you anymore, but please know that I'm sorry. I always find myself apologising for his actions, but I have inherited it.”

“It wasn't you who killed them, it was him.” Harry told Quinn as he looked at her a smile on his face as he did. In that single action, Harry had done more than he had realised. Until then, Quinn had never believed anyone else who had told her the exact same thing, but from the boys whose life her father had destroyed it was more than enough.

“You should really get to sleep, if Molly finds out I kept you up talking I won't make it to see my handy work in action.” Declared Quinn as she looked at Harry whose face has turned confused. “I am Barty Crouch's second, but most of this was me and Ludo because he just dumps stuff with me.”

“I will remember that when I see it all tomorrow.”

“Today.”

“What do you mean?”

“It's 4:30am Harry,” chuckled Quinn.

“Blimey, I really should get some sleep.” Harry exclaimed his eyes wide open as he looked at the nodding woman. "Good night Quinn.”

“Night Harry.”

As the boy who lived left her, Quinn's gaze moved from the space where he had been sat and back up to the stars. A wise woman had once told the girl that if you look at the stars and thought about someone the chances were that they were too. After seeing her memories earlier that night, Quinn's mind was tightly with her brother hoping that he wasn't going through anything near what she did. The thought of Draco going through everything she had was her greatest fear, so much so her Bogart was Draco's squirming body in a red glow.

“This is pretty stupid, but here goes.” Quinn spoke looking up and closing her eyes. “You probably can't hear me, but I still think about you baby brother. I still worry about how you are and what you live through. If you are hearing this, which I doubt you are, you need to know that no matter what you go through you have to hold on to the light. Hold on to the hope that everything will turn out right. Most of all, remember that I love you no matter what, as long as I'm alive you have a home. I love you baby brother.”

Keeping her eyes closed for a moment, Quinn allowed her breathing to slow to a rhythmic pace. Slowly, Quinn opened her eyes allowing the multitude of stars to fill her view. 

Feeling a presence behind her, Quinn turned around to see Bill stood holding 2 blankets in his arms. Sighing, Quinn set a mental reminder to both thank and complain to Harry when she saw him the next day.

“Harry woke me about half an hour ago saying you were out here, apparently we made quite the impression on him earlier. I left you for a bit, you normally need it.” Bill explained as he sat beside Quinn, wrapping his arms around her shoulder. Leaning into him, Quinn leant her head on his shoulder as he wrapped them in one of the blankets. Smiling at the feeling of being back in Bill's arms, Quinn relished in the body heat that he was letting off.

“Do you reckon that Lucius would hurt Draco?” Quinn questioned randomly.

“I don't think so,” Bill answered his voice filled with sincerity. “He is obsessed with image and blood status. Draco is his blood, and a pure blood. You are only a half blood and someone else's daughter. Why do you ask?”

“A lot came back,” Quinn answered softly as Bill's hand traces circles on her upper arm. “It was just flickers, there was Bella's torture, she was my aunt. She said that it was to make me stronger, that by doing it she was showing she loved me. What if someone does that to Draco?”

“You will see him, won't you?” Bill asked, Quinn nodded in answer. “I know you, you will get it out of him without ever asking the question.”

“I think I'm afraid of the answer.” Quinn sighed as she felt her eyes become heavy. Allowing her eyes to close, Quinn began to feel her limbs become heavy and her mind fall into the endless abyss of sleep once more.

Realising that her breathing had changed pace, Bill smiled to himself as he waited a moment to make sure she was truly asleep. Manoeuvring himself so that he could lift her, without waking her, Bill let the blanket fall off their shoulders. One arm under Quinn's shoulders the other under her knees, Bill carried her carefully up the stairs.

Gently, Bill places her down on her bed, pulling the quilt back over her as she readjusted to the bed. Sitting on the edge of his bed, Bill glanced at the clock realising that he was no longer tired. 5:30. The others would be waking up in a while, and of his mother found out he was awake already she would not be impressed, to say the least. Opting for staying in the room, Bill glanced around for something to do while he waited for the others to leave. Eyes landing on Quinn's poetry book, a smile made its way onto Bill's face as she picked it up. Flicking to a random page, his eyes fixed on Quinn's swirled writing around one of the poems.

'The tiger at the dinner table knows what I will be wearing for school tomorrow.' The poem stated, his fingers nimbly taxes the tear stains on the page, his heart breaking with ever line he read. This poem had hit her hard. She had seen her life replay in every word, every single second of it.

Looking over to Quinn, Bill saw her eyes scrunch together. He had seen her so that more times than he could count, every time she did she would wake claiming she was screaming but not sound came out. She had always described it as a trance, something she couldn't wake from no matter how hard she tried. Brushing a piece of hair out of her face, Bill wished he could do more for her. He was helpless.


	9. "The Amount Of Coffee You drink Is Quite Frightening."

An anxious knot tied itself in Quinn’s stomach as she continued to sleep through the sound of the youngest occupants, and Arthur, leaving the house. Even as she slept her mind waited too long, pondered too much, on the things that could go wrong with the World Cup. In only a few hours she would find out if her mind was jumping further than it should have. Yet, the feeling that lingered in Quinn’s stomach was similar to the one she had felt on _that_ night, and she had been right then.

As her eyes flickered open after a restless night of memories fleeting around her mind and images projecting onto her eyelids, Quinn’s mind continued to create unrealistic situations that may unfold later that day. She knew how unlikely they all were to happen, yet they still claimed her every thought that morning. She knew that a troll wouldn’t just wander upon the World Cup, the chances were so miniscule they were almost non-existent, but Quinn still worked out what to do if it did happen. By the time she had been awake for a minute Quinn had considered, and worked out a solution, for 30 unrealistic situations.

Breathing out in relief as her mind struggled to come up with anything to top a meteor hitting the exact spot that the stadium had been built, Quinn looked around the room confused at how she had gotten there. The night before she had left the room and sat out in the garden. Harry had come out. She had spoken to Draco, in her own way. Bill had found her. She had fallen asleep. Realising that Bill must have brought her up, Quinn smiled as she hugged her arms before glancing at the bed beside hers where Bill should have been. The bed was empty.

Throwing the quilt off her legs, Quinn swung them out of the bed quickly her eyes racing to the clock. 10:00! Before Molly had changed her arrangements, Quinn was supposed to have been at the stadium 5 hours before then. Suddenly, the knot in Quinn’s stomach grew even tighter, churning up the emptiness of her stomach. Even after not eating anything since the previous day, Quinn felt as though she was going to throw up. However, Quinn was used to these feelings of anxiety, she had always had them, they had always churned in her stomach increasing her feeling of nausea until it was unbearable. It was what meant she could work through them.

Rubbing her eyes and stretching her arms, Quinn pulled her cardigan around her before plodding out the room and down the stairs to the kitchen. As her footsteps echoed through the house, Quinn began wondering how the others had gotten on. She knew that they were meeting the Diggorys, and that George had a thing for Avery, but apart from that she hadn’t known the plan. Of course, she knew that they were taking a portkey, she had been one of those who helped organise it in the first place, but the rest of the plan she was unaware of. She knew the anti-muggle safe guarding rules that had been set up, but was unsure of how Arthur would get on with putting up the tents and lighting the fire. For as long as she had known him, Arthur had been fascinated in the magic of muggle technology and items, and a match was one of those things. Pushing the idea to the back of her mind, Quinn stepped down the last step and into the kitchen.

“Good morning,” Bill spoke, surprising Quinn as he stood up and wrapped an arm around her waist, kissing the top of her head. Forcing the surprise away, Quinn mentally cursed Bill’s ability to give her butterflies as they fought with the anxiousness, increasing her nausea. “Are you okay? You are really pale.”

“I’m fine, its only one of the greatest gatherings of wizards and witches on English soil and if anything goes wrong it is my fault,” rumbled Quinn, her pace quickening with every word she spoke. Leaning on Bill for support as her head became light from not breathing enough, Quinn sighed out a breath of relief. “Why does it always feel so good to get everything out?”

“If you share out a heavy load it is no longer so heavy.”

“Stop quoting me William,” Quinn smiled up at him before taking a seat at the kitchen table. Pouring herself a mug of coffee from the jug at the centre of the table, Quinn wrapped her hand around it. Bringing the mug to her mouth, Quinn rested the white ceramic on her lips and breathed in the aroma.

“I think she is addicted,” murmured Charlie from the seat opposite Quinn. Sipping the coffee, Quinn kicked Charlie’s shin under the table. A yelp of pain left his mouth before he glared at his best friend.

“I am not addicted, I can stop anytime I want,” declared Quinn, but the three Weasleys around her shared a look of disbelief. Eye’s fleeting between Bill, Charlie and Molly, Quinn almost spat her coffee back out as she noticed the resemblance. “You two look like your mother right now. It is actually quite frightening.”

“The amount of coffee you drink is also quite frightening,” countered Bill as he ladled porridge into his bowl. “You planning on having blood type caffeine?”

“Yeah, we call it C negative though.” Answered Quinn as sucked her breath through her teeth and shrugged her shoulders at Bill.

"Are you planning on eating anything?" Molly asked as she looked at the pale faced girl, her lips pursed and eyebrows raised.

“I am not sure how well it will stay down,” Quinn spoke quietly. Much to her surprise Molly only nodded in response before going back to the porridge that she was ladling into a bowl for the missing of age wizard.

“What has got Percy taking so long?” Molly asked shaking her head in disbelief as she walked towards the stairs placing the bowl down on the table on her way past.

There was a moment of silence in the kitchen as Charlie looked between his older brother and beat friend. The previous night he had noticed the glances between the two and the hidden hand holding bellow the table, but he also knew why they would want to keep it from his mum. She had a tendency to blow things out of proportion, see the rekindling of the flame as an engagement and start planning an extravagant wedding. However, he was unsure of why they were hiding it from him. Being Quinn’s best friend, he had been the shoulder that she cried on after breaking up with Bill for him, he had been used to the awkwardness of hearing all the details about his brothers relationship. So why, now, were they suddenly being so secretive. Bill may have held her in an embrace earlier that morning, but it was the kind that he always used to hold her in before their first relationship. Charlie was out of the loop more than he had ever been.

 

“How did you two sleep?” Questioned Charlie patronisingly, his raised eyebrows telling the duo sat opposite him know that he knew more than he should.

 

“I woke up halfway through the night,” stated Quinn truthfully as she continued to sip her coffee carefully. Tapping her silver painted nails on the mug, Quinn bit her cheek as Charlie's blue eyes flashed with knowledge. “Harry must have heard me going down because he came out and spoke to me before getting Bill. Apparently, we made quite the impression.”

“Right,” Charlie nodded as he smirked at Quinn. “I know what happened, there is no need to be so secretive around me.”

“You were asleep!” Bill exclaimed as he looked at his brother slightly confused and shocked.

“I am still pretty good at faking it,” Charlie chuckled as they heard footsteps heading back into the kitchen. Following the sound the trio saw Molly storming in followed by a flustered looking Percy.

“I'm going to go jump in the shower while you finish breakfast.” Quinn spoke pushing herself up from the table and smiling at the Weasleys who surrounded her.

After collecting a change of clothes from her trunk, Quinn stepped into the bathroom and took a moment to look in the mirror. Bill had been right earlier that morning when he had made the remark about her being overly pale, her face was the same colour as her younger brother’s hair. Pushing her hair back out of her face, Quinn began to feel the knot in her stomach loosen somewhat.

Sighing in relief, Quinn turned the shower on before pulling her pyjama shirt over her head, dreading the site of what was underneath. Much to her surprise, Quinn's ribs were no longer as prominent as they had been before. It both pleased and disappointed her. Until then she had been supper skinny, the kind that other girls would have killed for, that she would have killed for. No, she couldn't think like that again, she had gotten over that kind of thinking years ago.

Removing her watch from her wrist, Quinn's eyes caught on the frozen river that ran straight down it. Just a glance at that scar made guilt fill her heart, weighing it down. As much as everyone told her that it was in the past, she could see the worry in their faces every time her smile faltered or grew too large and looked fake. One mistake, one misplaced word was all it took for the people closest to her to think she was hitting that place again. No-one realised that Quinn was as scared of that place as they were.

Shoving the scar to the back of her mind, Quinn stepped out of her jeans and stood under the shower head. Luckily, when Quinn had gone in the water was warm enough to help loosen the tightness of her muscles. Relishing in the pitter patter of the water droplets on her shoulders, Quinn closed her eyes massaging them slightly as she did. That day they weren't as bad as they normally were due to the fact that she hadn't been leaning over a deal all day for almost a week, however after spending 3 years in the same position it was going to take more than a week to reduce the damage.

Quickly washing her hair, Quinn found herself spitting out the shampoo that had ended up in her mouth. Once she was done, she stepped out of the shower and within a minute was changed into her slightly more casual clothes. The one good thing about helping to plan the Quidditch World Cup, despite the fact that she got to watch it for free, was that when it came to the match she was able to wear casual clothes to work. In Quinn’s mind that was a win because she could wear jeans.

Crossing the landing to the twin’s room, Quinn watched as Charlie raced past her closely followed by Percy. Chuckling to herself as Charlie slammed the bathroom door shut and Percy glared sourly at the space his brother had just been in. Opening the door to the twin’s room, Quinn was shocked when she was hit with a stronger smell of gunpowder than she had been before. With the twins having been with Ron for almost a week nothing had exploded in the room for a while so the sudden overwhelming stench left utter confusion in her mind.

Placing her, neatly folded, pyjamas under the pillow on her bed, Quinn glanced around the room suddenly realising how little time she truly had left in the Weasley home. In 6 days, she would be flooing to Hogwarts for the year, saying goodbye to Charlie, Percy, Arthur, Molly and most difficulty Bill. As much as she had said that she was okay with long distance, the thought of it scared her slightly. She had learnt over the past, almost, 4 years that absence really does make the heart grow stronger, but that didn’t stop her worrying about how it may negatively affect them. She had only just got Bill back, she didn’t want to lose him again.

Stepping towards the window, Quinn looked, tranced by the worry that had her chewing on the inside of her cheek. That day was one of the most important days in her life, and it was causing her more stress than any others. Tapping her nails on the window sill, Quinn took deep breaths, too engrossed in the scenarios once again swirling around her mind to hear the door open behind her.

“You have nothing to worry about,” a voice whispered softly as a pair of hand made their way onto Quinn's waist causing her breath to catch in her throat. Smiling as she leaned back into the man who was stood behind her, Quinn closed her eyes loving the safety she felt in his arms.

“What if-”

“No _what if_ s.” Bill states firmly as he spun the girl around to face him. Taking her hands in his, Bill looked into her cloudy and anxious ocean coloured ones. “This isn't all on you. Dozens of other Witches and Wizards helped to plan this event. I have watched you working harder than I reckon any of them have ever worked in their lives, if something goes wrong it is not on you. You are the most extraordinary witch I have ever met, you got better results on your NEWTs than anyone in Ravenclaw did. If something goes wrong it will be a miracle.”

Smiling up at Bill, Quinn intertwined her fingers with his. “Have I ever told you how much you mean to me?”

“Not that I can remember.”

“Well, you mean the world to me Weasley.” Quinn smiled as she pushed herself up on her toes to reach his lips with her own. Even the brief contact made a warmth tingle through their lips.

“Good to know Riddle.” Bill replied as he let go of her hands with a smile still firmly on his face. Watching as Quinn looked in the mirror that sat on the wall beside her bed, Bill couldn't help but notice how as the light hit her face her left eye squinted slightly.

“I can give you a picture if you like,” Quinn muttered as she pulled her eyeliner pencil out of her makeup bag, running it along her waterline as she spoke. “Really, it is quite distracting and I feel quite self-conscious.”

“I can be more distracting if you like,” Bill smiled moving closer to Quinn who had now turned to look at him while still applying her eyeliner to her water line.

“Don't think it is possible,” Whispered Quinn as Bill stood before her. To begin with he leaned towards her face making Quinn think that he was about to kiss her, that would have been quite a distraction. However, last minute Bill picked her up throwing her over his shoulder. A scream left Quinn's mouth as surprise filled her mind.

“Is this not more distracting?”

“William Weasley, put me down!” Quinn squealed as the eldest Weasley child ran out of the room with her over his shoulder. As they approached the stairs, Quinn felt Bills grip on her tighten, ensuring her that she was safe.

Bill ran around the house with his girlfriend over his shoulder for about 5 minutes before he ran into his mother. Gulping back, Bill looked at his mother who had a raised eyebrow as she looked at them.

“I think we've lost our cover,” Bill whispered to Quinn as he placed her carefully on the floor.

“No _We_ William, you are the one who just ran around the house with me over your shoulder,” Quinn retorted as she steadied herself on the ground.

“You, Bill, need to get some lessons on how to keep a secret from your youngest brother!” Molly declared pointing a finger at her eldest son. “He had been hiding something from me all summer and not once has there been a hint of what. You have been hiding something for a day and it is more than obvious.”

“Now I'm confused,” Quinn stated from beside Bill. “Are you saying that we should have kept it a secret?”

“No dear,” Molly smiled as she moved her attention from Bill to Quinn. “I'm just saying that it wasn't very well hidden.”

“Yeah, I'm still absolutely lost.” Bill declared as he looked between his mother and girlfriend.

“Merlin, you Weasley boys are slow.” Quinn sighed as she brought her hand to her head before turning to Bill. “Your Mum is saying that you need to learn to keep a secret, Charlie was right when he said we weren't fooling everyone.”

“Bill wasn't,” Molly corrected. “Last night at dinner, he got the smile that Ginny labelled the Quinn smile every time you spoke.”

“Quinn smile?”

“Oh, he always got this odd smile whenever anyone mentioned your name, it was as though he had just been given a vile of Amortentia.” Molly explained causing Quinn to look at Bill with a raised eyebrow. “Anyway, you two should really finish getting ready, you have to leave in half an hour.”

“Well, I'm done so I'm going to get another cup of coffee.”

“Q, you have only done one eye.” Bill chuckled causing Quinn to cover the clean eye with her hand.

“Maybe I'm not done,” Quinn chuckled slightly as she turned around running up the stairs quickly. Wearing his signature _Quinn_ smile, Bill watched as she slipped into the bedroom quickly.

“Take care for her Bill,” Molly ordered softly. “She's one of the good ones. Don't let her walk away again.”

“Why would I make that mistake again? I made it once and ruined it for both of us.” Bill stated as he continued to look at the empty space where Quinn had been only moments before.

“Has anyone seen my glasses?” Quinn yelled from inside the room, her words directed at anyone who could hear her.

“Remind me to never get anything small for her,” Bill told his mother watching her nod as he walked up the stairs and towards the room Quinn was stood in.

“I can't actually remember taking them off,” Quinn declared from where she was led on the floor looking under the bed.

“You do realise that you could just use the summoning charm, right?”

“I forgot,” Quinn groaned pushing herself off the floor and hitting her head on the bed. “Today really isn't going to plan.”

“The rest of it will,” Bill reassured her as he held out his hand to help her up from the ground. Once she was up, he wrapped his arm around her waist and she leaned her head on his shoulder.

“I really hope your right,” Quinn sighed before pulling her wand out of the back pocket of her jeans. “Now, just in case it doesn't go to plan I need my glasses.”

“Why?”

“You should see the paperwork still on my desk.” Quinn groaned before saying the incantation for the summoning charm, her glasses flying out from the side of the bed and into her hand. “I knew they were under the bed!”

“You have to go!” Molly yelled up the stairs. Knowing that there was nothing left to hide, the couple walked down the stairs their fingers intertwined and smiles on their faces.


	10. "Now Who Sounds Like Your Mother."

Still chewing the inside of her cheek, Quinn forced a small goodbye smile onto her face as she looked over at Molly who was still lashing Percy with her tongue. The elder woman returned the smile, momentarily breaking from the stern conversation she was having with a now pale looking Percy while Charlie stood struggling not to laugh behind him. Gripping Bill’s hand tightly, Quinn let out a small breath before disapparating from the living room with him.

Quinn had never been a big fan of apparating, and the harsh feeling that already lingered in her stomach made the action worse. Apparating, although the quickest way of travel, was one of the most uncomfortable ways to travel. As Quinn’s every atom was being transferred from A to B, she felt as though her entire body was being shrunk, turned inside out and spun all at once. Many other witches or wizards had described it as being placed in a room with the walls closing in until they couldn’t breathe, to say it was uncomfortable was probably an understatement.

Feet finally hitting the unsteady ground, Quinn stumbled slightly her head turning light and her knees threatening to buckle. Luckily, Bill was still gripping her hand tightly, saving her from the possible fall that could have occurred. Closing her eyes, Quinn leaned against Bill’s arm, her head resting on his bicep.

“You okay?” Questioned Bill, his voice laced with worry.

“Can you throw up if you haven’t eaten anything?” Quinn asked as she removed her hand from her mouth her head till light. “I feel like you can.”

“You are feeling ill because you haven’t eaten anything Q, you know that is what happens. It always is.” Bill spoke tutting as he shook his head.

Raising an eyebrow at Bill, Quinn chuckled lightly before asking, “Now who sounds like your mother?”

Chuckling in unison, the two began stepping through the forest, Quinn’s head still light and fuzzy. After taking around half a dozen steps, Quinn’s mind began sipping quickly and her legs no-longer had the ability to hold her weight. Thankfully, Bill’s reflexes were quick and he let go of her hand, wrapping his arm around her waist, catching her frail body before it could hit the floor.

“When we get to the tents, you are eating something.” Bill declared, causing Quinn to grumble but not argue. She had given into the fact that she had to eat something, and maybe Bill was right, maybe she would feel better after that.

Stepping out of the woods, Bills arm still wrapped around her waist to keep her steady, Quinn instantly felt her heart beat faster. She had never been to a Muggle campsite, but she knew that it looked far different from this. All throughout the site there were children, of around 4 or 5, on small brooms that raised them just enough for their toes to drag, parents completely out of sight. Just to the left of her was a man wearing a floral dress that wouldn't have looked out of place on a Muggle, a female Muggle. He was having a rather loud conversation with Mason, from her department, about why he was wearing it. Pushing it to the back of her mind, Quinn's eyes continued to scan the surrounding area, growing immensely wider when she saw a witch, around Molly's age, putting her tent up with magic.

“Does nobody read the anti-muggle precautions?” Quinn asked, her teeth gritted together in annoyance as the likelihood of some of the obscene situation skyrocketed. “Look at this! Are they trying to get us found out? Do they want another Salem Witch Trials?”

“It's harmless,” Bill chuckled as he continued to walk towards the tent he had seen countless red heads beside just moments ago. “If the site owner does get suspicious, then the officials can simply alter his memories. It is all going to be okay.”

“I really hope your right William.” Quinn sighed as they finally reached the Weasley tents, the smell of sausages and egg filling Quinn's nostrils. Suddenly, Quinn felt like she could eat the entirety of a Hogwarts feast as the knot relaxed.

“Just apparated dad,” Percy announced loudly from beside Quinn. As he did the knot in her stomach returned, her jaw dropping open in shock as it did. “Ahh great, lunch.”

“Did he just-”

“Breathe Q,” Bill whispered as he placed a kiss on her forehead, causing her to calm slightly. “Breathe and eat.”

“I really don't think eating is a good idea.” Quinn protested as she looked at the eggs and sausages, that moments ago had seemed like heaven, with utter disgust. Until Percy, the one person she had expected to keep to the regulation, had opened his mouth, she had been more than ready to eat lunch. However, if Percy was slipping up like that, what was the rest of the wizarding community going to do.

“Q, you have to eat something,” Bill pushed as he stood beside her, their lack of distance catching Hermione, Ginny and Arthur's eyes. “Even if you just take on bite and then stop. So, you might as well sit down because you aren't leaving to see Crouch or Ludo until you have eaten.”

“Fine,” Quinn muttered, sitting down on the grass in a state of acquiescence.

“I didn't mean... You know what you can stay there if you want.” Bill spoke as he walked away to the bucket of water Harry, Hermione and Ron had filled moments ago. After filling a glass, he crossed the small amount of space back towards Quinn who was pulling at the limited number of daisies around her and linking them together.

“I've seen Muggles do this before.” Quinn announced as she continued to link them, not once looking up. “I think they are called daisy chains. I will admit it is normally young girls who do it, but I am still mentally about 9.”

“I didn't say anything,” Bill smiled as he sat next to her passing the glass of water over. “Dad hasn't quite finished yet.”

“Can I ask you something?” Quinn asked looking at Bill who had now joined her sitting cross-legged in the floor and nodded. “Had you have known what would happen from the beginning, would have bothered?”

“Of course,” Bill smiled as he looked at her, taking her hand in his own. “In fact, I wouldn't have tried fighting you on the station. I also wouldn't have waited until then thinking I was more likely to win against you if you had less time.” Smiling, Quinn felt her mind relax slightly. “Why do you ask?”

“I have always wondered.” Quinn stated truthfully as she shrugged her shoulders. “By the way, I think your dad and the girls are a little confused right now.”

“They look it,” Bill declared looking behind Quinn to where Ginny and Hermione sat whispering to each other. Out the corner of his eye, he saw the two tallest and almost identical red-heads whispering until the tallest nodded. “I think the twins just made another bet.”

“Why does that not surprise me?” Quinn chuckled as she sipped the glass of water in her hand. “Thanks for the water by the way. I actually needed it.”

Turning to face the rest of the campsite again, Quinn let out a deep breath of annoyance. She had spent hours planning, arguing, signing just for everything to be ignored. She had missed birthdays, meals and weeks’ worth of sleep, just for everything she had done to be ignored. In all honesty, Quinn was more annoyed than she was worried now.

“Do you think they know what goes on behind these things?” Quinn wondered aloud as she leaned into Bill, her senses intoxicated by his cologne. “They pay for their ticket, make a mess, break the rules and leave. Do they think that that is all that it is?”

“You have so many questions Q,” Bill acknowledged, as he followed Quinn's gaze. “I think they know something happens, but the extent is something that they can't know. So much happens that those who aren't part of the departments responsible don't know, it is unbelievable.”

“Your telling me,” Quinn yawned as she closed her eyes. “I just wish I could make it clear what really happens. Maybe then they wouldn't be putting tents up with magic!”

“Maybe.” Bill stated as he watched Arthur finish cooking the sausage and eggs.

“Lunch Weasleys and Weasley 2.0s!” Arthur cried causing the twins and Ron to rush over to where their dad was sitting. Hermione and Ginny tutted at their behaviour as they stepped over.

“Your food is ready. Eat, then you can go and see Crouch and Ludo.” Bill smiled as he stood up from the ground, brushing off his jeans.

“Okay, but you are going to have to help me up. I'm exhausted, I had nothing but nightmares all night.”

“I could tell, you were tossing and turning like a boat in a storm.” Bill explained as Quinn yawned again. “Hopefully you will make it to the match.”

“Oh, I have coffee and potions in large enough quantities to keep a troll away from a millennium.” Quinn proclaimed in a hushed voice, barley loud enough for Bill to hear her.

“The good old sleep replacements that almost killed you.”

“Well you know what they say,” Quinn smirked as Bill held out his hand. “What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.”

Shaking his head, Bill pulled Quinn from the ground, a squeal leaving her mouth as she followed the momentum, knocking into Bill’s body. Muttering an apology to those around her, Quinn took a step away from Bill and towards Arthur who was handing her two plates filled with food.

“Is it bad that when I look at this all I can remember is my first hangover? Merlin thank your father for keeping me from mum.” Quinn stated as Bill struggled not to laugh at her. He could remember the night before as if it were yesterday, though Quinn was still not sure what had happened that Christmas eve. Much like Quinn, Bill was thankful that his dad had managed to keep Quinn from his mum until he had managed to get her the hangover cure potion, that until that day neither Bill or Quinn knew existed.

“Can you still not remember that night?”

“I spent about 5 hours in London doing shots with you, I can’t even remember what shots I did. Or how we got back to the burrow!” Quinn exclaimed as she stabbed the food on her plate, bringing it to her mouth a chewing it. As she swallowed it, she felt her stomach clench before relaxing slightly.

“Miss Riddle, may I ask you who was right?”

“Shut is Weasley.”

“Really hoping that was aimed at my older brother,” A voice stated from behind Quinn who turned around smiling at the second oldest Weasley boy. “I was only coming over to see how you were.”

“Of course, it was aimed at William,” Quinn reassured, as she looked at Charlie. “I’m fine by the way. Much to my bitter annoyance, much better-”

“WEASLEYS!” A cry interrupted causing Quinn and Bill to turn around to face it along with the rest of the red-haired gang. The voice came from a girl, stood just a little further than the next tent along she had a face that Quinn had a vague memory of. On her face was a wide and toothy grin.

“AVERY!” The twins yelled back in unison causing Quinn to flinch due to how close they were to her ear.

“Sorry Quinn,” George muttered and Quinn waved her hand not wanting to make a big deal about it.

“Congratulations by the way,” Fred smirked looking at the girl with a look of mischief. “I see that washing up is a good way to get people together. Maybe George and Avery there should do it more often.”

“Shut up,” George grumbled barging his twin brother with his shoulder.

Looking up at Avery, Quinn remembered how she knew her. When Avery was in her first year, Quinn was in her 6th and a prefect so spent a lot of time with the first years in her house. The other way that she recognised her was from the pictures on the mantel piece in the Weasley home, she was normally in-between the twins trying to hold in a laugh or rolling her eyes.

Avery Diggory was beautiful, there was no other way to describe her. She had an oval face with high, sharp and well-defined cheekbones. Her chin was determined, but still soft and feminine. Altogether her bone structure was exact and to the point yet still had a soft and warming feeling. Her eyes were the greatest contrast of her face, they portrayed a vision of innocence, with a fair and caring glow. Above her eyes, Avery’s eyebrows were thick, but well kept. Although harsh and dark, they complemented her face greatly, framing her eyes perfectly. Her nose was nothing special, it was small and thin but well-proportioned to her face. Much like the rest of her face, it was well defined and prominent with sharp angles on her nasal passage. However, the base of her nose was softly curved, with minimal definition.

From the looks of the careful application of lipstick on her lips, Avery’s favourite thing about her face was her lips. Although like so many others her upper lip was thin she had a natural cupid’s bow that she highlighted with her signature ruby red lipstick. Her lower lip, however, was full and often pouted or gripped between her pure white teeth that made innocence look guilty.

That day, she had allowed her deep auburn curls to hang free. Yet, even with the lack of control, they sat perfectly on her back and shoulders. In the sun’s rays, her curls became highlighted in with a deep red that altogether lightened her hair.

At the age of 16, Avery was average height, around 5”7, with a well-maintained slimness. The prominent bone structure of her face was carried to the rest of her body in the form of deep clavicle and scapular. Her neck was elongated and elegant, complemented greatly by her well-learnt and sophisticated posture.

The young girl looked overly mature for her age, her posture and body language was that of a higher-class citizen, with an air of kindness and warmth that caused many people to smile. Her simple but flattering sense of style complemented this greatly. That day, she had chosen jeans and her burgundy knitted jumper with a pair of brown boots with a slight wedge, a slightly more practical approach for the match that portrayed that of a muggle.

“I’m going to go and fill this for you,” Bill stated as he looked down at her empty glass.

“I’m fine,” Quinn smiled, however Bill only took the glass from her hand walking back to the bucket to fill it again. Shaking his head at the couple, Charlie moved away leaving Quinn alone trying to work out why the twins were walking back towards her, Avery between them being guided her way.

“Ave,” George stated as he looked at the girl between him and his twin brother. “This here is Quinn.”

“I know, I’ve-”

“She is the immensely gorgeous.” Fred interrupted causing the raven-haired woman to smile slightly.

“Completely amazing.” George added.

“Utterly intelligent.” Shaking her head as they continued to speak alternately, Quinn glanced over to Bill who was looking at her shaking his head at the same time as her.

“Girlfriend of Bill.”

Looking to each other, they added in unison, “We think.”

“That is completely.”

“And utterly.”

“Out of his league.” They finished in unison as their oldest brother crossed over to them.

“I totally agree with you two there,” Bill stated as he looked at the now blushing Quinn, handing her the glass of water he was holding before placing a hand on her waist. As he did, George mimed gagging which caused Avery to roll her eyes at him as she moved her hand to her own waist pursing her lips in annoyance before painting a warm smile back on her face.

“So,” Avery spoke dragging it out as long as possible. “It has been so nice to see you again Quinn, it's nice to meet you Bill, but I was actually only coming to return the toffee that I found in my pocket once I got back to my tent. And, oh there was something else,” Avery had an over exaggerated look of confusion on her face before looking at the twins annoyed and adding, “Oh yeah, what the hell I'm supposed to do to get Ced's tongue back to the right size.”

“Now I know why your mum told us to keep an eye on you!” Quinn exclaimed as she shook her head at the twins who were avoiding all eye contact with the annoyed looking Avery.

“You two are coming with me so that we can sort it out before Dad gets back!” Avery yelled pushing the twins around to face the direction she has come from before forcing them to walk that way. “Stop prolonging this, Ced's tongue was the length of a broomstick when I left.”

As the trio walked off, Avery still yelling at the twins about how they needed to be more careful with their products, Quinn began to wonder how she had become friends with them. From what Quinn could remember she was an intelligent girl, deathly afraid of the dark, with a great future ahead of her. How she came to mix with Fred and George was one question Quinn's mind couldn’t work out the answer to. Dragging her eyes from them, Quinn turned leaned into Bill’s side drinking her water as she did.

“Thanks, but right now I need to go and find-”

“Miss Riddle!” A voice cried from beside Arthur.

“No need to go looking now Q,” Bill chuckled as he took his hand off her waist, letting her move towards Ludo. Ludo Bagman was quite easily the wizard following the regulations the least, Quinn’s eyes widening at the site of him. He was wearing long Quidditch robes in thick horizontal stripes of bright yellow and black.  An enormous picture of a wasp was splashed across his chest.  Looking at the man, many people would have seen nothing but a well-built man who had let it go over the last few years. The Quidditch robes her was wearing were stretched greatly over his large stomach that he hadn’t had back in the days of playing. As much as Ludo was at times over similar to the twins, Quinn had always much preferred him to Crouch.

“Mr Bagman, I was just on my way to find you.” Quinn declared as she moved towards the man, her legs suddenly threatening to collapse again.

“Are you okay?” He asked as he looked at her, his eyes growing worried at her paleness. “You look like a ghost. I see why Mrs Weasley was so adamant you weren’t coming into work.”

“I’m perfectly fine sir,” Quinn stated as she stopped before Ludo and Mr Weasley, holding her now spinning head. “Just need to keep hydrated.”

“Good, don’t want you getting ill, not with the upcoming event.” Ludo spoke causing Percy to gasp looking at them. “It looks as though everything is in place, so you are free to spend the rest of the day here with your friends. If we need you I will come and find you.”

“But-”

“Enjoy yourself, Miss Riddle.”

“Thank you, Mr Bagman.”

Nodding at the girl, Ludo turned to Arthur a look of excitement clearly etched onto his face. “What a day, eh? What a day! Could we have asked for more perfect weather? A cloudless night coming… and hardly a hiccough in the arrangements… Not much for me to do!”

From where she was stood behind him, Quinn began choking on the words she was holding back from Ludo’s last statement. Noticing the look on Quinn’s face, Bill stepped over to her rubbing her back. “She has always had the ability to choke on water, this one.”


	11. "William, Are You Asking Me To Run Away To Egypt?"

Standing to the side of Bill, who was still lightly rubbing her back in hopes that it would calm her, Quinn began chewing on the inside of her cheek once more as Arthur introduced her superior to his family. How the man could say everything was going to plan Quinn could not work out. None of the witches and wizards here to watch were following the rules. Many of which were within Ludo’s view. Just to the left of him, the woman who had been putting the tent up with magic had moved onto cooking lunch, her pots and pans jumping across the grass to the fire. To his right, a child, not much older than 2, had gotten hold of a wand and was sending sparks off in every direction, the grass catching fire multiple times. Then, behind him, there were violet sparks shooting up into the air, obviously form a magical fire of sorts.

Eyes and mouth wide open with shock, Quinn stepped forwards, catching the attention of a group of fatigued looking Ministry workers. Pushing past Ludo and away from Bill, Quinn watched as they stepped to her, the tallest catching her attention and calling her over.

“Do people not listen nowadays?” Quinn questioned as he stood beside her, shaking his head at the sparks.

“Not unless they think it is worth something to them.” Mason sighed turning to the woman, no longer stood with his shoulders hanging but upright. “What do we need to do?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll go deal with it. I need to find Crouch anyway.” The duo shared a look of annoyance. “Maybe he had seen it and realised that we should have had extra workers on Magic watch.”

“I think someone suggested that to him when we began planning,” Mason spoke, putting a look of extreme thought onto his face. “I do believe he shot it down claiming that everyone will listen.”

“Really, I can’t remember that at all,” Quinn stated sarcastically. “Anyway, I’m going to go and check on whatever that is.”

“Don’t you worry, we’ll go.” Mason stated as he placed his hand on her shoulder. “We are supposed to be telling the Irish to take down their decorations, but we all support the Irish so that isn’t going to happen. And, you seem a little busy here.”

“Shut up Moon.” Quinn muttered turning slightly red as Mason nodded at Bill. “If anyone questions it, the Irish decorations that is, tell them that Mrs Finnigan refused.” Quinn whispered loud enough for Mason to hear but no-one else. “Heard that she was a little difficult, can’t remember who from though.”

“Will do.” Mason nodded as he stepped off. “I will indeed go and check it out Miss Riddle.”

“Thank you, Mr Moon.” Quinn stated before spotting the others beside him. “Take the rest of the team with you, you have no idea what it is.”

“Of course, Miss Riddle.” Mason stated looking at the rest of his team who seemed to be a mix of agitated and thankful for something to do.

“If there are any problems don’t hesitate on finding me.” Quinn called out before turning back to the Weasley’s and moving back next to Bill who was looking confused at Mason. “Mason Moon. Your year at school. One of the few people in the office who actually respect the fact that I’m their superior.”

“Moon, Slytherin Prefect?” Quinn nodded. “He’s the one who spent the whole time trying to get away from being a Moon.”

“I think that’s why he respects me,” Quinn stated as she looked at Bill, whose face had grown confused. “He knows what it’s like to have a name that drags you down.”

Unsure on what to say back, Bill was thankful when the twins quite loudly announced that they were back. Watching as Hermione and Ginny shared an unamused look Quinn turned her attention back to Arthur and Ludo who were now looking at the twins.

“These two are Fred and George.” Looking at the twins, Quinn could see Arthurs face contort with confusion.

“George is the taller one,” Quinn announced as she realised why Arthur’s face had turned confused.

“Right, thanks Quinn,” Arthur spoke nodding at her. “As you know, that is Quinn. Oh, and that with her is my eldest son Bill. He is only down for the World Cup, works in the Egypt branch of Gringotts. Though, I haven’t seen all that much of him since he has come back, spends a lot of time washing up.” Behind Arthur the twins began choking on the laughter they were struggling to hold back at Quinn and Bill’s faces at the mention of washing up. “Everyone, this is Ludo Bagman, you know who he is, it’s thanks to him we have such good tickets. Well, Ludo and Quinn who let us use her second ticket to get both Harry and Hermione here.”

Bagman beamed and waved his hand as if to say that it was nothing while Quinn let a small modest smile form on her face. When she had first overheard Arthur and Molly’s conversation about who to take out of Ron’s two closest friends, she had offered and Molly, being Molly, turned it down. However, after many arguments, mostly Quinn stating the fact that she wasn’t going to use it so it would be going to waste, she had accepted. Both Harry and Hermione smiled thankfully at her, but Quinn just shrugged it off. To her it was truly nothing.

Looking at Arthur, Ludo’s face lit up with a sudden look of realisation. “Fancy a flutter on the match Arthur?” He asked enthusiastically, shaking what seemed to be a large amount of gold in his pockets. Much to Quinn’s disappointment, his question made the twins eyes lightly up and they began digging around in their pockets for any old they had. Molly was going to kill all the adults there if she found out, but there was no point trying to talk the two boys out of it now. “I've already got Roddy Pontner betting me Bulgaria will score first - I offered him nice odds, considering Ireland's front three are the strongest I've seen in years - and little Agatha Timms has put up half shares in her eel farm on a weeklong match.”

Arthur looked at Ludo’s hopeful face, considering saying no for a second before nodding his head at the man’s hopeful face. ““Oh...go on then. Let's see...a Galleon on Ireland to win?”

“A galleon,” Ludo exclaimed a mix of shock and disappointment etched onto his face, yet he recovered quickly, his eyes scanning the group. “Very well, any other takers?” Quinn and Bill shook their hands and Charlie declined politely before George coughed catching Ludo’s attention.

“We'll bet thirty-seven Galleons, fifteen Sickles, three Knuts,” declared Fred as he and George stepped forwards, their father’s eyes wide with shock and fear, “that Ireland wins - but Viktor Krum gets the Snitch. Oh, and we'll throw in a fake wand.”

From beside Ludo, Percy hissed something that was inaudible to Quinn, but she noticed his face turn shocked as Ludo took the fake wand from Georges hand, his face shining with a child-like joy. Then when the wand gave a loud squawk and turned into a rubber chicken, Bagman roared with laughter.

“Excellent!” Ludo cried after he had composed himself completely. “I haven’t seen one this convincing in years. I’d pay 5 Galleons for it.”

Between Percy’s diaproving and stunned look and Arthurs hushed words, Quinn lost interest in the conversation, her eyes scanning the area behind Ludo hoping that Crouch would be trying to find him. As much as Ludo had told Quinn not to worry about the event, she was always going to worry and knew that checking with Crouch may help ease the nerves. Yet, that would involve her finding him.

“Mr. Crouch?” said Percy, catching Quinn’s attention, her head flicking up so fast she could have gotten whiplash. “He speaks over two hundred! Mermish and Gobbledegook and Troll...”

“Anyone can speak Troll,” proclaimed Fred contemptuously. “All you have to do is point and grunt.”

Holding back a laugh, Quinn watched as Percy threw Fred a glare as he stoked the fire vigorously to bring the kettle back to the boil. Quickly, the conversation turned to the disappearance of Bertha Jorkins, as Ludo took a seat on the grass with the Weasleys. Not really wanting to hear yet another argument between Percy and Arthur about what should be done about the disappearance, Quinn quickly made herself a coffee from the kettle that had just boiled for Ludo’s tea.

“That stuff is going to kill you, you know.” Bill smirked as he wrapped his arms around Quinn, hugging her tightly from behind. Enjoying the comfort of Bill’s contact, Quinn ignored the stares from the girls and chuckles from the twins as she sipped her coffee.

“I would rather drink this and die than have another glass of luke warm water and live remembering the taste.” Quinn declared quietly.

Smiling at her comment, Bill took in a deep breath before saying what he had been meaning to say for the whole day, “After all this has finished, you should join me in Egypt. I mean, only if you want to. You could easily get a job with the Egyptian Ministry, I’m sure Ludo or Crouch would write you a stunning reference. You are a great asset here.”

“William, are you asking me to run away with you to Egypt?”

“That’s the gist of it,” Bill smirked. “What do you say?”

“I say, I am going to have to think about it,” Quinn spoke before pausing, a lightly hum leaving her lips. “Now that I’ve thought about-”

Much to Bill’s annoyance, Quinn was interrupted by a sound that was a mix between a rip and a pop beside Ludo that made each of her muscles tense and her teeth to grit together. Breaking free of Bill’s, suddenly tighter, grip, her fists clenched at her sides, Quinn was most shocked when she saw the wizard who had apparated beside her. He was a stiff, upright, elderly man, dressed in an impeccably crisp suit and tie. The parting in his short grey hair was always unnaturally straight, and his narrow toothbrush moustache looked as though he trimmed it using a slide rule. The man before her was her immediate superior, Barty Crouch Sr.

“WHY IS EVERYONE APPARATING ALL OVER THE PLACE, WE HAVE REGULATIONS FOR A REASON!” Quinn erupted, causing each of the Weasley’s eyes to widen with shock and Crouch to step back in shock while Ludo tried to hold back a laugh. Suddenly realised what she had done, Quinn bit her lip as he cheeks turned the darkest shade of red they had ever been and her eyes dropped to her feet.

All of a sudden, it was clear to the Weasleys, Harry and Hermione why Percy and Quinn had mixed feelings about Barty Crouch. Percy, who idolised him, was a great believer in rigidly following rules, and Mr. Crouch had complied with the rule about Muggle dressing so thoroughly that he could have passed for a bank manager. Quinn, who, on the other hand, had a pure distaste for him, was a stickler for leading by example, and Mr Crouch always felt exempt from anything that wasn’t a set-in stone rule, the anti-muggle regulations for example.

“Sorry. Though, may I say that I feel a million times better now.”

“Letting-” Bill stopped in his tracks as Quinn raised her hand, not in the mood to hear her words leave his mouth again.

“Trouble in paradise.” George chuckled as he watched Bill swiftly silenced by Quinn raising her hand, her face contorted in annoyance. The amused look, however, left his face as the raven-haired woman shot him a glare that could have killed him.

“Good to see you have recovered from your near-death experience Miss Riddle.” Barty Crouch stated as he looked at the girl who had just erupted.

“That’s what… Now I know why everyone is tiptoeing around me like I’m their mothers favourite cracked vase.” Quinn whispered in realisation.

Patting the grass beside him, Ludo took his mug from his lips and looked up at Crouch. A large smile on his face, the wizard spoke brightly, “Pull up a bit of grass, Barty.”

“No thank you, Ludo,” said Crouch, and there was icy feel to his voice as he glared at the man who had ignored most of the rules put in place. “I've been looking for you everywhere. The Bulgarians are insisting we add another twelve seats to the Top Box.”

“Oh, is that what they're after?” asked Bagman, his face portraying shock and realisation. “I thought the chap was asking to borrow a pair of tweezers. Bit of a strong accent.”

“Mr. Crouch!” exclaimed Percy breathlessly as he lowered his head in a sort of bow that made him look like something that resembled a hunchback. “Would you like a cup of tea?”

“Oh,” said Mr. Crouch, looking over at him a slightly look of surprise on his face. “Yes - thank you, Weatherby.”

Fred and George choked into their own drinks as youngest group of children struggled not to do the same. As he realised that he was the source of the amusement, Percy, very pink around the ears, busied himself with the kettle.

“Oh, and I've been wanting a word with you too, Arthur,” stated Mr. Crouch, his sharp eyes falling upon the eldest red head. Confusion filled Arthurs face as Crouch’s face turned to one that resembled a business man. “Ali Bashir's on the warpath. He wants a word with you about your embargo on flying carpets.”

Tuning out the unnecessary conversation, Quinn turned back to Bill who was looking at her with raised eyebrows.

“So, you’ve thought about it…”

“And I want to.” Quinn smiled causing Bill’s face to light up for a second before it fell.

“It sounds like there is a but coming after that.”

“However,” Quinn spoke overly emphasising it causing Bill to half-heartedly laugh. “We are going have to wait until after the next event. They,” Quinn nodded over at Ludo and Barty, “want to use me as a midpoint of sorts. Use the fact that all the Hogwarts students that can enter went to school with me to their advantage. Apparently it will make me more approachable, especially considering I was the first Slytherin Head Girl in years, not to mention the teachers may actually talk to me about their concerns.”

“Q, I would wait a million years if I knew I would get to fall asleep and wake up next to the most beautiful girl in the world at least once.” Bill smiled tucking a stray strand of hair behind Quinn’s ear as a small smile made its way onto her face. “It’s true you know. I’ve said it more times than I care to admit…”

“Say it and I will change my mind!”

“I think it is pretty well implied.” Bill chuckled as he took her empty hand in his own, linking their fingers. Smiling at his gesture, Quinn pushed herself up onto her toes, grazing her lips on his for a second before returning to her original height. “You do realise that my dad still doesn’t actually know.”

“Bill, you spent the last God knows how long with your arms wrapped around my waist, I’m going to take a stab in the dark that has worked it out already.” Quinn spoke rolling her eyes slightly. Smirking at the matter-of-a-fact tone in her voice, Bill leant down his lips barely touching hers before there was an overexaggerated fake gag from beside them. Turning to face it, the duo saw George fake throwing up. “Oh come one George, it is no-where near as bad as your undressing Avery with your eyes.”

“I-I-” George stuttered before giving up and walking off.

“I’m pretty sure Ginny is mentally planning your wedding by the way,” Fred whispered as he leaned towards Quinn and Bill.

“That doesn’t surprise me.” The couple said in unison before smiling.

Turning Quinn back around to face the Ministry workers, Bill fought back a chuckle at her groan, “I believe that we should go and join the conversation that is going on between your co-workers.”

“If we must,” Quinn groaned, linking her arm through Bill’s, she walked towards the men who were having a rather loud conversation about flying carpets. However, in that moment, Quinn was too happy to care. Finally, her life was on the right track again.

“So, been keeping busy, Barty?” said Bagman cheerily.

“Fairly,” articulated Mr. Crouch wryly. “Organizing Portkeys across five continents is no mean feat, Ludo.”

Internally, Quinn was making more comments about how he had not organised 5 continents, he had barely done 3. The Portkey’s were one of the elements that he had thrust upon her to organise. However, externally, Quinn was smiling sweetly at the duo before her, her teeth gripping her tongue to stop herself from exploding once again.

“I expect you'll both be glad when this is over? I know that Quinn has been stressing all week, I mean she almost fainted about an hour ago. Luckily Bill managed to get her to drink something.” exclaimed Arthur, Quinn screwing up her face as Bill looked rather smug.

“Glad?!” Ludo cried shocked by what Arthur had insinuated. “Don't know when I've had more fun…” There was a pause as Ludo remembered what was coming up next. “Still, it's not as though we haven't got anything to look forward to, eh, Barty? Eh Miss Riddle? Plenty left to organize, eh?”

Raising their eyebrows at Ludo in unison, both Crouch and Quinn showed their annoyance. Before Quinn could say anything, Crouch said, “We agreed not to make the announcement until all the details-”

“Oh details!” Bagman spoke, waving his arm around as if it were able to push it away. “They've signed, haven't they? They've agreed, haven't they? I bet you anything these kids will know soon enough anyway. I mean, it's happening at Hogwarts-”

“Ludo, we need to meet the Bulgarians, you know.” Interjected Crouch sharply, as he looked at the watch on his left hand. “I think we should be okay without you Miss Riddle, just take care of yourself. You need your strength for the rest of the year.” Quinn nodded back at Crouch. “Thank you for the tea, Weatherby.”

Passing Percy his untouched tea to Percy, Crouch waited for Ludo to stand up from the floor. Struggling to his feet and throwing down the last of his tea, Ludo bid goodbye to the Weasleys before congratulating Quinn on how well the set up was. Following the statement, the two disapparated.

“Anti-muggle precautions!” Quinn groaned placing her head in her hands before shaking it.

“What's happening at Hogwarts, Quinn?” asked Fred immediately.

“Why do you need your strength?” George added. “What were they talking about?”

“You'll find out soon enough,” Arthur stated saving Quinn from their bombardment of questions.

“It's classified information, until such time as the Ministry decides to release it,” said Percy stiffly. “Mr. Crouch was quite right not to disclose it.”

“Oh, shut up, Weatherby.” Fred smirked, Percy narrowing his eyes at him in annoyance.

“Sorry you two, but for once I agree with Percy. You can’t know until Crouch gives the okay.” Quinn spoke, the words feeling odd in her mouth. “Now saying that was weird.”

“Okay Miss Riddle.”

“Call me that again and you will learn why the entirety of Hufflepuff were afraid of me.” Quinn spoke jabbing a feeling at the twins who looked sceptical.

“It’s true,” Bill and Charlie spoke in unison.


	12. "Well Egypt Is Hot."

As the 25th of August continued to play out, an ever-growing cloud of excitement engulfed the witches and wizards in attendance of the Quidditch World Cup. As the hours crept slowly by, an increasing number of witches and wizards trudged through the oddly damp campsite. Each footstep mixed the mud and the grass more, the deep brown turning the once vibrant green dim and dull. For a while the Ministry continued to battle with the community, attempting to get them to follow the basic regulations, but after a while they gave into the inevitable. Not too long after, when the sun painted the sky luscious pinks, reds and oranges, witches and wizards began apparating with extra ordinary merchandise that was sure to confuse a stray muggle. One witch was selling pointed, green hats that had dancing shamrocks circling the point, while the wizard next to her was selling moving, miniature models of each of the teams 7 players.

As the hype for the match continued to grow, the 4th year students began to wander off looking for merchandise and souvenirs to buy. In the time that they spent wandering separately, the remainder of the Weasleys began to wander in a similar search, Quinn staying behind purely on principal. Over the course of the countless, rigorous, planning sessions, the discretion of the match had always been a highly regarded point that was addressed on multiple occasions. However, now the day had finally come the lesser involved individuals were bowing down to the pressure of the remainder of the wizarding community. Quinn, for one, was not impressed. Over the duration of the planning for this event, her health had deteriorated, and had drastically fallen that day, ensuring that very thing was ready in time and there were the necessary precautions in place. All that she had sacrificed for had now been thrown aside like the matches Arthur had failed to keep lit.

After a few minutes of being alone, Quinn was joined by the tallest red-head in the group. The man sat himself on the ground a smile on his face as he noticed her hands idly pulling at the bent and broken daisies around her body in a state of obvious acquiescence. The woman's teeth clenched every so often as a new sales person decided to apparate beside the duo, but her attention never once straying from the daisies before her. Nor did any words leave her lips regarding the Ministry's new-found leniency. Due to not being able to do anything, Quinn locked her attention onto the movement of her hands, every so often stopping a hum from vibrating across her lips.

Sat directly opposite her, Bill's eyes lingered on the nimble movement of her fingers. Following the delicate twists of her wrists as they trailed across the destroyed ground. Every so often his eyes would glance up to her face, watching the look of concentration fill her features. He knew that she hated every moment of this, the waiting, and yet she never once let it show in her actions. Of course, there was the odd sigh and check of the watch on her left hand, that was there for more than one reason that Bill and select others were aware of, but it was no different to those who hated the wait because it was a wait. He knew, Quinn hated it because things could go wrong. Bored witches and wizards do stupid things in the presence of Muggles, that both member of the duo knew all too well.

After he had watched Quinn’s hands pull at the battered grass, Bill remembered the small trincket he had in his pocket. As soon as he had seen it, he knew that Quinn would find the mix of humour and relief that he had when his eyes had met it. Fishing it out of his pocket, Bill kept his eyes on Quinn who had not yet looked up from her hands. “I brought this for you from one of the women by the green tent.” Bill stated breaking the comfortable silence that was weaving in-between the two. Looking up from her hands, Quinn saw a green rosette in Bill's hand. Unlike many of the others she had seen around, this one was purely a green rosette. There were no dancing shamrocks or confetti canons or changing words. It was a plain, Muggle worthy rosette.

“Thanks, how on earth did you find one that has been Muggle proofed, so say?” Quinn questioned, a light tone of humour in her voice, tried to pin it to her polka dot top without moving her eyes from where they were fixed on Bill, and failing miserably.

Chuckling, Bill leaned forwards and took the rosette out of her hands. “Lift your head up,” he whispered as guided the pin gently towards her top, hooking it into the stitching of the hem. “There you go.”

“Only you could make pinning a rosette to my top a romantic gesture.”

“Oh, you love it really.”

“Oh yeah, I totally find pinning on rosettes so sexy,” Quinn muttered, her voice thick with sarcasm as she looked at Bill over her glasses. “Now, how on earth did you find something without anything that would stand out to a Muggle? I would quite like to thank whoever it was who was selling them.”

“It was a bit of a mission I must say, and to be honest I can’t really remember where I found it.” Bill stated as he shuffled closer to Quinn, placing his arm over her shoulder as soon as she could. From there, Quinn shuffled around slightly and leant her head against his shoulder, closing her eyes for a second at the comfort.

For a whole, they continued to sit in complete silence, Quinn listening to the steady rhythm of Bill’s breath in her ear. The simple sound, combined with Bill’s natural warmth, began to make Quinn feel more tired than she already was. Neither of them had to say anything, it wasn't an awkward silence that a person wants to end almost immediately after it had started, but a comfortable silence that brought back warm memories of Hogwarts' cold evenings.

“Talk to me about Egypt then,” Quinn spoke, inhaling the odd burnt coffee smell that always seemed to linger around Bill. “Since you are, ever so romantically, whisking me away to live there, I would quite like to know what it's like.”

Looking down at Quinn, Bill thought about Egypt, with the golden sand that burnt the bottom of his shoes and the sun that set the Nile ablaze outside his window, and struggled to think about it as home. The man suddenly realised what he had been missing in Egypt, why he had never felt quite as though he belonged. He had been missing home, because home wasn't a place for Bill, home was a person. Home was the raven-haired, blue eyed girl who lead in his arms. It was the way she smiled up at him, not just with her lips, that didn't part but only curved up at the sides, with her eyes, and the rest of her face as well. It was the way his full name rolled off her tongue sweetly and naturally, different from when he gets a scolding from his mother. Home was Quinn, without her he never really belonged anywhere.

“Hey,” interrupted Quinn, pulling the man from his suddenly realisation about her. As he looked down at her again, her elbow now jabbing him in the chest, Bill knew that he was going to have trouble going back to Egypt without her. “You went silent, all pensive, dazed do you must. What were you thinking about?”

“Egypt. How I never felt part of it, like I belonged. I could talk to you for hours about how wonderful it is, but a lifetime about how much better it will be once you are there with me.” Whispered Bill before placing a kiss on the top of her head. Then, the buzz of excitement and the anxiety of Muggle regulations were a distant memory as, in that very moment, all the duo could think about was Bill's words.

“Tell me about how wonderful it is, you can show me how much better it is next year.” Quinn smiled, taking Bill's free hand and intertwining their fingers. If the twins caught her and Bill in that position, the two of them would never hear the end of it. However, Quinn couldn't have cared any less, she was happy in that position. Quinn hadn't been happy in a long time.

“Well, Egypt it hot.” Bill stated as he Quinn's eyes close tightly, her nose scrunching up as well. That was something that she had always done, whether he was describing his latest buy from Zonko's or reading a book aloud, she always closed her eyes to picture it. “My apartment is only a short walk from the Nile, so, on my days off, I usually go for a stroll for a couple of hours. Then, when I have gotten back, I go to the Café just down the way and sit in the burning sun with a cup of coffee. The woman who owns it reminds me a lot of mum, only she doesn't try and cut my hair.”

Bill paused as he heard Quinn chuckled and a smile play at the corner of her lips.

“I haven't even got to the best part yet!”

Quinn spoke softly, not moving from her position or opening her eyes, “It already sounds pretty amazing.”

“Mediocre,” Corrected Bill as he compared that moment, in the humid British heat with Quinn in his arms, to sitting in the café in Egypt. If he had to choose one to stay in forever, he would choose Quinn without hesitation. “Anyway, here is the best bit. In the evenings, when the sun is setting I can see the golden glow on the Nile that makes it look like it's on fire.”

“That sounds beautiful.” Quinn smiled finally opening her eyes and looking up at Bill, who smiling back down at her. “It’s too bad that I’m at Hogwarts for the next year.”

“A year isn’t going to do much, we’ve already proved that there can be distance and years between us, and we aren’t going to forget each other.” Bill whispered to Quinn, tracing circles on her upper arm.

“You are such a romantic today, aren’t you William.” Quinn smiled as the red-haired man placed his lips to the top of her head.

“It’s true though.” Bill chuckled. “Now, the question is, are we going to do Christmas in Egypt, alone with no parents, or are we going to do it here, in a full house and no chance of a burnt dinner like we would have if I let you do it?”

Quinn looked up at Bill, her mouth open wide with obvious offence, “I have never burnt anything! Under-cooked, yes, but never burnt.”

“Christmas with my mum and dad it is. I don’t fancy food poisoning.” Bill smirked before being lightly hit by Quinn.


	13. "Are You Sure You're Not Pregnant?"

Questions swirled through Quinn’s head until her thoughts were mixed so much she was wondering if someone had slipped fire whiskey into any of her drinks. Not only was her mind a mess, the woman was swiftly overcome with a feeling of vertigo as she looked over the railings that contained her. Quinn was in no way afraid of heights, she was, however, unused to them. After months trapped in her office with no window, the drop made a lump of fear catch in her throat. What confused her the most, was the fact that she was perfectly fine when playing Quidditch with Ginny and the rest of the Weasleys. Presumably, it was something to do with control. When she was flying a broom she was in control, sat up in the highest possible place of a stadium she was not.

As she tried to coordinate her thoughts, one question popped up more than any other; Why had she bothered? Quinn was sat, alone, in the top box as she waited for, both, the Bulgarian and English Ministers of Magic to arrive. They were supposed to be there exactly 20 minutes earlier than the others so that she could brief them on the emergency procedures. However, as the Barty Crouch’s house elf made her way to the end chair, they still weren’t there.

Smiling to the elf, Quinn saw shock flash through her wide eyes along with a milligram of fear. Pushing herself onto the seat, Winky screwed up her eyes before looking to Quinn and saying, “Miss Riddle! I’s thinking that no-one would be here yet, I’s thinking that I would be early.”

“We have been thinking very differently then.” Quinn muttered before noticing the House-elf screwing up her eyes once more. From the few times that she had encountered Winky, Quinn knew that she was one of the most hard-working House-elves she had met. However, Quinn had only ever known Dobby who she had often given an hour to himself, which he accepted, so she didn’t really have much of a basis.

“You look awfully ill, Miss.” Winky declared as she looked at Quinn who was suddenly feeling queasy. What if the Ministers were too late for the briefing? She knew she shouldn’t have left it until the last minute, but the others had said it would be fine. “Are you not liking heights either?”

Scrunching her brows in confusion, Quinn looked at Winky in confusion, “Do you not like heights? Why are you up here if you don’t like heights?”

“Master sent me to save his seat.” Winky said awfully quickly, too quickly for Quinn to believe it. If Barty had indeed been busy, then why had she spent the whole time sat doing nothing but talking to Bill? Nevertheless, Quinn let it slide, knowing that, if Winky had been told to say that, she couldn’t say different. “Why is it that you are up here so early, Miss?”

“Safety briefing,” Quinn answered before turning to the door to see the Weasley’s making their way into the box most of them smiling or laughing about something. “I’m going to go and see if I can find anyone else, preferably the Ministers.”

Standing up, Quinn’s head began to spin a little, thankfully not as much as it had in the past. Quickly, her hands reached for her temples, tightly closing her eyes as she regained her composure. However, as she went to take a step the knot that was once again present in her stomach tighten instantly causing her legs and hands to shake.

Losing her balance slightly, Quinn was thankful for a pair of hands that steadied her from behind. As she went to move away from them, turning to say thank you, a voice said, “It’s only me, Love, are you okay?”

“I will be when I find the Ministers, preferably before I forget how to say what I have to in Bulgarian.” Quinn spoke, ignoring the lightness of her heart as Bill called her love. She was pretty sure that her cheeks were burning bright red as she turned, still in Bill’s arms, to face the red-haired man. “I don’t think I have ever been so nervous, and this is the event that is less likely to have a death!”

Tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear, Bill looked down at Quinn, who had gone back to the off shade of white she had been that morning, his eyes filled with worry. She looked exhausted, Bill could tell just how much from the twitch in her left eye.

“I don’t like the look of all those stairs,” groaned Quinn, still looking at Bill who was trying to work out how he could help Quinn. “I might just wait from them to get here, it isn’t like anything else is being done as it is supposed to.”

Smiling, Bill took her hand in his and turned to walk to seats on the end of the row, closest the exit. “Let’s take a seat, Love.”

Following Bill’s lead, Quinn made her way to the end seats, taking the one closest to the stair, just in case she had to go suddenly. As they sat down, Quinn leaned her head on Bill’s shoulder, their hands still joined. Was this what it was going to be like when she moved to Egypt? Whenever Quinn thought about it, she pictured them curled up and spending as much time together as they could. As she smiled at their contact, Quinn’s mind fleeted back to the first time she had ever seen Bill, really seen him as something more than Charlie’s older brother. As more than a good friend.

* * *

 

_He was teaching her to tie her tie. One of the most mundane things to do, and that was when she realised that she loved him. No, she had known that something more than friendship pulled at her mind whenever she saw him, but it was then that she put it all together. She loved Bill Weasley._

_“You are hopeless you know Q,” Bill chuckled as he watched her once again end up with a knot that sat halfway down her torso. “How the hell have you managed to tie it until now?”_

_Quinn looked up at Bill for a second, looking at him with a look that said ‘how do you think?’, before she spoke in a matter-of-a-fact tone, “I **don’t** untie it.”_

_“That makes sense.” Bill smirked looking at Quinn, his eyes meeting hers for a second. “Still, I don’t know how you got to fourth year without knowing how to tie a tie. It is a basic life skill.”_

_“For boys, yes, you are going to be wearing them for the rest of your life. A girl’s equivalent is learning how to put on a bra.” Quinn spoke, her face going as red as a tomato as she realised what she had said. There was a moment of silence before the two burst out laughing. “I can’t believe I just said that.”_

_“Neither can I.” Bill spoke, trying to hold in his laughter and compose himself. “Anyway, let me tie your tie and then don’t untie it.”_

_“I didn’t untie it in the first place!” Quinn exclaimed as he handed Bill her tie. He slipped it over his neck, tying it within a few seconds before loosening it and handing it back to the girl._

_“If you didn’t untie it, who did?”_

_Quinn bit the inside of her lip as she tried to think of a reason that didn’t involve her. “Um…Must have been Maddie. She probably thought it was hers.”_

_“Really,” Bill hummed sceptically. “Well, I would love to continue talking to you Q, but as a prefect it would be highly irresponsible for me to keep you after lights out.”_

_“So, you mean you can’t keep me out and make up some excuse if we get caught?”_

_“Ha Ha…No.”_

_“Damn it!” Quinn spoke shaking her head. “Can you at least walk me back to the Slytherin Common Room? If you don’t have patrols, that is.”_

_“Sure,” Bill smiled stepping out of the library with her beside him. That was the last moment that anyone ever treated Quinn as if she were a regular person in her 4 th year. After then they tiptoed around her as if she was vase that the vibrations, caused by the impact of a full foot on the floor, would smash._

* * *

 

A bustle of people caused Quinn to be pulled from the memory that seemed to have put a simple smile on her face, despite the horrific event that occurred later than night. She chose to see that as an event she learnt from. The time she hit rock bottom but was given a second chance.

“Ministers are here,” Bill whisper into Quinn ear causing her head to snap up and scan the space around her. As her eyes fixed on the ministers, Quinn stood up quickly, her hand flying to her head it spun once again.

“I’ve got to work on getting up slower,” she mumbled loud enough from Bill to hear, but not anyone else. She walked over to the Ministers, a warm smile on her face.

“Ah, Miss Riddle, I apologise for not being up earlier. We were a bit preoccupied looking for Barty. You see, I don’t speak a word of Bulgarian.” Fudge spoke looking at Quinn who nodded glad that she could finally be of help.

“I can help out slightly, I learnt basic Bulgarian for this and the other.” Quinn stated, making sure she didn’t say the last part too loudly. The twins were already curious, she didn’t need to make it worse.

Fudge’s face lit up at her comment, “Such a good job we have you on our team, hey Riddle. Do you mind explaining that we could only add half the seats? Oh, and the safety procedures?”

“Sure,” Quinn nodded before turning to the Bulgarian minister and holding out her hand that he took eagerly. **“Mr. Oblansk. I am Quinn Riddle of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, I do believe that we have already spoken over letters. I am afraid that we have only been able to add half the number of requested seats. Also, in the very unlikely circumstance that there is a problem, you and Minister Fudge will be the first to leave through the stairs just here. However, if there is an issue with those stairs then you will be allowed to Apparate to a safe spot that should have already been discussed with you. If you have any other queries don't hesitate to ask me.”**

 **“Thank you Miss Riddle, but I should really tell you that I speak English. It is just rather amusing watching everyone struggle.”** Mr Oblansk stated causing Quinn’s eyes to flash wide before she readjusted her face to normal.

“What did he just say?”

“That he understands the procedure.” Quinn stated, causing Mr Oblansk to nod at her. “Is there anything else I need to say?”

“I think I can get through everything else Miss Riddle. You can go back to your seat and enjoy the game.” Fudge spoke and Quinn thanked him walking towards her seat ending up face to face with her Mother, Brother and Lucius.

Eyes widening, Quinn looked at her family, her breath catching in her throat. Bill seemed to have realised this fact, as he stood up holding out his hand to hold her upright, steadying her shaking knees. Looking at her family, Quinn saw their mixed expressions as something that caused her great fear. Her Mother seemed to be looking at her with wide eyes filled with surprise, but also worry as she saw the paleness of her skin and the fact that she was as thin as a sheet of paper. Lucius was snarling at her, his eyes landing on Bill and a tut left his mouth. She had not expected any different from him. However, Draco seemed overjoyed to see his sister, it could only be seen in his eyes but anyone who was close to him knew what the light in his eyes meant.

Smiling at his sister, Draco stepped away from his parents looking at her with a challenging look, “What are you doing up here big sis? I can tell you now that it was not your piano playing skills.”

“Nope, and you definitely aren’t up here for your hair,” She retorted messing up his hair with her hands. The Weasleys, Harry and Hermione seemed shocked at the behaviour but turned away not sure what to think about it. Harry knew that he was going to use it to his advantage when they went back to school, but knew not to stare now.

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“Yes Quinn,” Lucius snarled looking down at the girl. “Do answer the question, because surely having you here is a security risk.”

“You would know, you raised me,” Quinn spat back, her eyes glancing to her Mother who seemed torn between her husband and her daughter. “I’m here for my job, I don’t know if you heard but I am one of the main organisers. Not as worthless as you always let on, hey Lucius.”

“I have no clue what you are on about Quinn.” Lucius spoke looking at the girl with a look that dare her to say more. Quinn loved pushing his buttons, but didn’t dare in front of Draco. He may still see his father as his hero, she wasn’t going to take it away.

“Of course, you don’t.” Quinn muttered under her breath, suddenly overcome with confidence that she had seemed to have lost. “Sorry to get in your way. I forgot that you don’t mix yourself with half-bloods.”

“Q, back down,” whispered Bill, only loud enough for her to hear him.

Shaking off the feeling of hatred and anger that was pulsing through her veins, “Sorry, I don’t know what came over me. Go and take your seats, you don’t want to miss any of the game.”

The trio looked at Quinn, Lucius with a look of annoyance still but the other two with confusion as they walked past the smiling girl.

“Are you sure you’re not pregnant? That was a huge mood swing.” Bill muttered as they walked back to their seats.

“Shut up,” mumbled Quinn as she slumped down in her seat, her mood suddenly dampened by Lucius’ appearance. Glancing back at them, she noticed Draco looking her way. For a moment, their contrasting blue eyes met and Quinn mouthed ‘I’ll talk to you later’ to him. He nodded before turning his attention back to his parents who he was now sat firmly between, his mother glancing over to her daughter every few moments, his father trying to keep the conversation from her or anything like her.


	14. "Life Has Been Crazy."

Pure fear was not something that Quinn often experienced. For years she had dealt with feelings of shame, anxiety and discomfort, each of which had mixed with fear and, of course, there had been times in her childhood, moments, that her heart felt like it was going to explode in her chest. However, she had never really felt pure, undiluted fear that filled every inch of her body. If she were to have had a reasonable amount of experience with fear, the moment she felt it clump in her throat would not have been nearly as bad as it felt.

Large gusts of wind whistled in the dense forest, causing the hairs on the back of Quinn’s neck stick up. Clutching her wand tightly in her hand, the tip lighting the way space ahead of her. Each step she took cracked sticks and crunched leaves under her feet. She had already experienced being in that forest, but when the sun was no longer shining in the sky there was a whole different feeling.

“Draco?” Quinn whispered harshly through the dense trees, their branches reaching for the moon. As she continued to move forwards, Quinn felt a hand on her back. A slight scream of shock left her mouth causing the owner of that hand to chuckle. “Merlin! I hate you sometimes you know.”

“Sorry, I thought I would frighten you more speaking.” The white-haired boy stated.

Letting out a sigh, Quinn nodded before pulling her brother into a comforting embrace, “Are you okay? The fact that you wanted to meet me here makes me question your sanity.”

“You are so funny Quinn.” Draco declared as Quinn let go of him. “I had to tell you something.”

“What?”

“Something is going to happen tonight.” Draco stated as he watched Quinn’s face screw up. “I heard my father talking about it, there were people in the house I didn’t recognise, they were all odd looking. Something is going to happen today, tonight. Something big.”

“What do you mean Draco? What is going to happen?”

“I didn’t hear. They almost caught me listening in,” Draco stated as he looked at Quinn.

Holding her wand up so that she could see his face, Quinn’s heart dropped as she saw the fear in his eyes, “He does it to you as well, doesn’t he?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Yes, you do,” Quinn stated. “You think-”

Quinn was interrupted by a cracked stick behind her, her head turning to face the place where the sound was. When her eyes didn’t fix on anything, her head turned back to where Draco was stood. It was now empty, the sound of footsteps becoming ever quieter as the distance between her and the source of the sound.

“Crap!”

Holding out her wand, Quinn trudged back through the forest and back to the tent. Clenching her teeth, she let out a large sigh of annoyance still looking back at the spot where Draco had been just moments before.

As she stepped cautiously through the forest, Quinn heard another snap ahead of her. Heart beating harshly against her ribcage, she slipped on the moss on one of the rocks. Her back hit yet another jagged rock, causing her to hiss in pain.

“Crap!” Pushing herself up, Quinn looked around the space immediately around her. “Whoever you are, I am going to – really loose it at you.”

“I’m really so scared!” a familiar voice cried out from behind the trees, a light chuckle filling it.

Groaning in pain as she watched a well-built red-haired boy poke his head out from behind the trees, Quinn decided that she was no longer so terrified of the thick sheet of darkness surrounding her.

“I swear, if you were the one who scared Draco away I will hurt you, Charlie!” Quinn yelled as she held her hands up for her friend. Once again hissing in pain, Quinn’s back felt as though it were on fire as she stood up. “I’m going to need pain killers.”

“What are pain killers?”

Rolling her eyes at Charlie, who was walking ever so carefully beside her in order to catch her if she fell again, Quinn replied, “They are muggle potions.”

“How do you know what muggle potions are?”

“Between Hogwarts and working for the ministry, I spent a few months in a muggle village. They were really quite friendly there, welcoming to new people.” Letting out a large sigh, Quinn looked down at her hands, closed her eyes and bit her lip. “I could have stayed there forever.”

“Why didn’t you?” Charlie questioned looking at her closely.

“Someone, one of my father’s followers I think, turned up on my door one day.” Charlie looked over at Quinn confused. “He had a turban, spoke with a stutter and claimed that he was working at Hogwarts for the next year and needed my help.”

“That sounds legit.”

“But it wasn’t. When I let him in the stutter went, he was constantly talking about how I had managed to penetrate Hogwarts’ security. He kept asking me how I did it.” Clicking her knuckles, Quinn gritted her teeth, just the memory of that day causing her brain to fill with hatred. “Because of him I had to leave. Because of my father I had to leave the one place no-one knew who I was.”

By now they had stopped, stood at the edge of the forest, lost in the conversation they were having. Only Charlie wasn’t completely convinced by the ending, he was sure that she could have stayed even if her father had found her. Yet, he didn’t pry.

“What are you even doing in the woods?” Quinn questioned a light chuckle on her voice.

“I was sent by a worried member of the Weasley tent.”

“Ahh, so William sent you.” Charlie nodded. “I should have known. Though why he sent you is beyond me.”

“Ginny wouldn’t let him leave. They were playing some muggle card game Dad brought home a while back, when he suddenly realised you weren’t in the tent.” Charlie smirked as he held out his arm for Quinn, who looped hers though his.

“I miss speaking with you.” Quinn smiled as they walked closer to the family tent. “Our letters barely make anything. I mean we used to talk face to face every day, spend every waking hour talking on the weekends. Now we send a letter weekly, what happened?”

“We grew up. You ran away to, as I now know, a muggle village, then worked for the one place you swore you never would.”

Shaking her head, Quinn chuckled as she said, “Life really has been crazy.”

“You can say that again.” Charlie smirked as they stepped out of the woods and into the sea of tents and tourists. “Though, at least we can say that we will be seeing an awful lot of each other this year. I may even get bored of talking to you.”

“Dear Charlie, when has it ever been uneventful with me?”

Pursing his lips, Charlie tapped on his chin with his finger, “Hmm… When you completely ditched me for my brother this entire week.”

“Fine, I promise that I will not ditch you for your brother for more than an hour at a time.” Quinn chuckled as they approached the Weasley tent. “Well, I won’t ditch you completely. It can be like old times, when me, you and William would hang out by the lake.”

“I really don’t care, so long as you don’t get my Mum to cut my hair off again.”

“I am not making any promises.” Quinn smirked ducking into the tent, closely followed by Charlie who was more than happy to have gotten his friend back as she was before she left.


	15. "Don't Wait For Me, I Have A Few Tricks Up My Sleeves."

Wrapping her fingers around her white ceramic mug, Quinn relished in the radiating warmth that stopped her fingers from being blocks of ice. It may have still been summer, but Quinn was shivering in the minimal breeze.

The others in the Weasley party had already gone to bed, but Quinn didn’t want to hit the hay yet. Every time she closed her eyes, even just for a brief second, the look on Draco’s face during their conversation earlier flashed across empty canvas of her eyelids. Until that moment she could tell herself that he was still the same smiling 9-year-old she had left all those years ago, but now she couldn’t kid herself. She knew that he was going through the same thing as she was. How could she continue going on as she was, knowing that every summer and every Christmas he is going back to the house that probably turned up in each of his nightmares?

Looking up as she heard a soft crunch beside her, Quinn’s eyes caught Bill’s. However, unlike usual she didn’t smile. She didn’t even try to force her lips to curve slightly. He would have seen through it, so there wasn’t any use.

“Charlie told me he saw you with your brother,” Bill declared as he sat down on the grass beside her, gripping his own mug tightly in his hands.

Rolling her eyes, Quinn muttered, “Yep, and he is lucky I didn’t hit him for scaring him away.”

Chuckling, Bill looked to her, suddenly unsure on what words to say. The look on her face told him that she had found out more than she wanted to. More than she should have.

“I was right to worry you know.” Quinn sighed looking straight forwards instead of at Bill. “Lucius hasn’t changed one bit. I can’t believe I left Draco there with him. If I had never run away, he-”

“You would probably not be sat here today, or anywhere today.” Bill interrupted. “Q, what is happening to Draco is not your fault. There is no way you could have stopped it from happening.”

“There is,” Quinn sighed looking towards Bill for the first time since he had sat down beside her. “I could have taken him away with me. I could have reported Lucius for being a death eater, without the Imperius Curse. I could have done so much, but I thought that Draco deserved a real family.”

Placing his mug on the grass beside him, Bill held out his arm. “Come here.” Leaning into Bill, Quinn sighed as she let the tears she had been holding in. “I don’t know what to say to you right now Q, I am pretty sure no matter what I say you will break it apart, but one thing you have to know is that Draco will be fine while he is in school. This year, none of the students will be going home for Christmas, so he will be fine until next summer and by then you will have found a way to sort everything out. I know you, Q.”

“I am really going to miss you when term starts.” Quinn whispered as she shuffled closer, burying her head deeper into Bill’s chest.

“I don’t think you will miss me as much as I am going to miss-” Bill was interrupted by a large scream from across the way that was closely followed by a large flash of light.

Pulling away from each other, Bill and Quinn’s heads snapped in the direction of the noise and light. At first Quinn couldn’t believe her eyes, “William, is that-? Are they-?”

“I think it is,” Bill answered, not needing to hear the words from Quinn’s mouth. “You get the girls, I’ll wake dad and the others.”

“If Draco was right in what he heard this has been planned almost as long as the event.” Spoke Quinn.

Standing up and pulling Quinn with him, Bill held her face in her hands, “Right now, we need to get you, the girls, Harry and my younger brothers out of here.”

“Why me?”

“They are going to want you.” Bill sighed, but from the look that glazed Quinn’s eyes he knew she understood. “Now, go and wake Hermione and Ginny.”

“Okay.”

Quickly kissing Bill, Quinn turned to enter the girl’s tent. Quickly, Quinn stepped over the mound of clothes that had somehow already formed in the tent to where the frizzy haired girl was sleeping.

Confusion filled Hermione’s face as she questioned groggily, “Quinn?”

“There is no time to explain, I need you to get up and get out of here and into the boy’s tent. I have to wake Ginny and then I will be there.”

“What’s going on?”

Shaking her head as she tried to keep the trembling fear from entering her voice, Quinn said, “I will explain in a minute, when we have gotten out of the campsite.”

“Quinn…”

“Go, Hermione, you are in more danger than the rest of us.” Hermione’s eyes widened as she listened to Quinn. She could see past the mask of strength that Quinn was putting up, but chose to ignore it. “Go!”

Franticly, Quinn crossed the tent to where Ginny was sleeping, not as peacefully as Hermione was. She was tossing and turning, her lip trembling, hands batting the air before her.

“Ginny.” Quinn spoke shaking the Weasley. “Ginny, you have to wake up. Please.”

The teen sat up, rubbing her eyes with her sweaty palms. “Quinn, is it morning already?”

“No, but we need to get out of here. Come on.” Quinn held out her hand, pulling Ginny up with her as she rushed out of the tent. Everyone was now gathered outside the boy’s tent, Fred and George nodding as they listened tentatively to their father, Harry and Ron standing protectively around Hermione, Bill, Charlie and Percy stood with their wands out waiting for their father to finish.

“There they are!” Arthur cried as he pulled Quinn and Ginny to where the others were stood. “You are all to stay with Quinn and the twin, you hear me. If one of them is unable to be with you at any point you stick to the other.”

“Arthur, we will all be okay. Go and help the Aurors.” Quinn ordered as she gripped Ginny’s hand in hers pulling her towards the woods as she did. Pulling her wand from her boot, Quinn held it out before her the end glowing.

Each step they took, Quinn struggled to continue moving her back still twinging after her fall earlier. Having to stop, she passed Ginny’s hand to Fred who nodded at her accepting the fact that it was more important that they got to safety than her.

“We can’t leave Quinn!” Hermione cried.

Letting out a large cry of agony, Quinn pushed Hermione on, “Don’t wait for me, I have a few tricks up my sleeve.”

“But-”

“Go!” Quinn yelled, her hand placed on the small of her back as she stepped carefully over the mounds of dirt that plagued the floor.

However, soon her head began to spin with pain, her vision becoming blurred. The running had managed to bring back the pain from earlier, only making it 10 times worse.

Stumbling through the running people, Quinn finally made it into the woods. Along the way she had dropped her wand, but not had time to pick it up as everyone was still running and she had gotten caught in the flow. So, as sucked her breath in with agony, Quinn continuously tripped over tree roots in the pitch black.

Looking up, her eyes managed to make out a faint figure in the sheet of darkness. As she managed to adjust to the darkness, Quinn swore she saw a face that was familiar. The dark brown hair, the smirk, the voice that he used as he yelled the one spell she thought she would never hear again.

It couldn’t be him. He was dead. He had been for a while, Quinn could remember Crouch’s face the day he had found out. He looked full of guilt. There was no way it could be him.

Before she could call out the name, Quinn passed out the pain becoming too much for her to bare.

***

Back in the tent, Bill was sitting at the small kitchen table, holding a bedsheet to his arm, which was bleeding profusely. Charlie had a large rip in his shirt, and Percy was sporting a bloody nose. Fred, George, and Ginny looked unhurt, though shaken.

As soon as the eldest spotted Arthur step duck into the tent, he perked up asking sharply, “Did you get them, Dad? The person who conjured the Mark?”

“No,” said Mr. Weasley. “We found Barty Crouch’s elf holding Harry’s wand, but we’re none the wiser about who actually conjured the Mark.”

“What?” said Bill, Charlie, and Percy together.

“Harry’s wand?” said Fred.

“Mr. Crouch’s elf?” said Percy, sounding thunderstruck.

With some assistance from Harry, Ron, and Hermione, Mr. Weasley explained what had happened in the woods. When they had finished their story, Percy swelled indignantly.

“Well, Mr. Crouch is quite right to get rid of an elf like that!” he said. “Running away when he’d expressly told her not to . . . embarrassing him in front of the whole Ministry . . . how would that have looked, if she’d been brought up in front of the Department for the Regulation and Control —”

“She didn’t do anything — she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time!” Hermione snapped at Percy, who looked very taken aback.

“Hermione, a wizard in Mr. Crouch’s position can’t afford a house-elf who’s going to run amok with a wand!” said Percy pompously, recovering himself.

“She didn’t run amok!” shouted Hermione. “She just picked it up off the ground!”

“Wait, Dad, where’s Quinn?” Bill questioned butting into Hermione and Percy’s argument.

“I thought she was here with you and the twins,” Arthur stated as he looked around the tent.

“No, she was with Hermione last I saw.” Fred declared.

Eyes filled with fear, Bill cried, “Merlin! How could we have lost her? What if one of them found her?”

“Calm down Bill, we’ll find her.” Arthur stated, turning to Hermione. “Where did you last see her?”

“I don’t-”

“Didn’t Winky say something about a girl in the woods by her? She started to speak but Mr Diggory interrupted her.” Ron interrupted quickly, throwing his coat back over his shoulders.

“Ron, what the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Helping Bill find Quinn, Dad. She is the only person who seems to be able to make Percy slightly bearable. And I am pretty sure I can remember her pranking the twins when we were younger.”

“You will do nothing of the sort!” Arthur cried. “Bill, you and Charlie go looking for her. I will stay here with these lot. Explain what has just gone on.”

“I have no idea where in the woods you are on about,” Bill declared.

“Right, um…”

“I’ll go Mr Weasley.” Hermione declared. “I don’t need anything explaining to me, I know how to pick up a book unlike these two.”

“Okay Hermione.” Arthur stated reluctantly. “Bill, Charlie, make sure nothing happens to her.”


	16. Chapter 16

Eyes flickering open, Quinn was met with a blurred darkness that was unlike anything she had ever experienced. It was as though her face had been covered with a thin scarf that only slightly obscured her view, but still made it unclear what was before her. This was not helped by the impenetrable darkness that smothered her like a baby blanket. There was no light around her and Quinn was beginning to grow weary of her lack of view.

 _This cannot be done without him, Wormtail!_ A hiss of a voice slithered through her head. Instantly, her heart beat quickened, the voice had undoubtedly taken her by surprise. However, it was not purely the feeling that it was an insect running across the many lobes of her brain that had shocked her, but the familiarity of the voice. Although she could not place it, Quinn knew that she had heard it before. There was no way that she could forget the cold shiver that ran down her back, but she was unaware of where she had encountered this feeling before.

Searching her mind, Quinn found herself delving into a pool of a deep blue liquid. As if having opened a door, she was met with only darkness. Flashes of screams and deafening strikes of lightening were all that broke up the darkness. It was a place in which she had been before. A place that she had never wanted to return. Never thought she could return to.

He was dead. The owner of the mind she could so easily penetrate had been destroyed years ago. Not only that, but Quinn was sure she had burnt the bridge that had connected them. Just in case he hadn’t gone. In case he came back. Apparently burning the bridges made of frozen blood, shadows and fragments of souls was harder than it seemed.

Pulling away from the endless chasm of darkness, Quinn attempted to pull herself from the ground. She couldn’t. No matter how hard she tried, how much she willed it, she was paralyzed. Haphazardly thrown to the floor, there was nothing she could do to move. Nothing she could do to clear the blur of the world around her. She was, indeed, stuck in the dark.

About 10 minutes had passed before there was any sign of life around Quinn, the only example being a cry from the distance. To being with Quinn assumed it was yet another of the ants carrying words from the snake’s mouth to her head, but once she heard it again it was clear that it wasn’t.

The disembodied sound was brittle with a clear underlying air of worry. The voice that had been filling her head for the last 10 minutes was dead and flat, not once exceeding a whisper that still seemed strained. Even without those obvious differences, Quinn knew that they were 2 different people. The voice calling out her name was one she would recognise until the day she died. It was Bill.

“Where is she?” Bill questioned as 3 faint figures came into Quinn’s blurred view. “Are you sure we are in the right place, Hermione?”

“This is where Winky was.” Hermione declared in a matter-of-a-fact tone. “Maybe she has regained consciousness and gone back to the tent?”

“I hear something,” Charlie’s voice stated as he walked over to where Quinn was. “Oh, no, it’s just a bir-”

“Charlie did you just trip over thin air?” Bill asked as he walked over to his brother, holding out a hand. As he did, something caught his eye. Quinn’s glasses, cracked on the floor, almost as if they had been stood on. Following the dents and broken twigs, he finally realised what was going on.

Reaching down, Bill blindly felt around the space before him. He didn’t know that Quinn was internally screaming his name, begging him to find her.

“Bill what are you-” Hermione’s sentence was stopped as Bill grasped thing air pulling his hand back as he did. “Now, that is not the first time I have seen one of those.”

“An invisibility cloak?”

“Harry has one.” Hermione answered, clasping her hand over her mouth as he eyes widened. “I wasn’t supposed to share that fact.”

“It’s okay,” Charlie declared looking at Bill, who was trying to work out what had happened to the woman who seemed almost petrified on the ground. “We probably would have used one too if we had it. The amount of times Filch caught us three out after hours. Quinn would usually pretend to have a panic attack, or vision of some sort, to get us out of detention.”

Hermione looked shocked at the statement. From her first meeting with Quinn she had been under the impression that she was almost equal to her. “Really? She seems like the kind of person who never got a detention.”

“I really did get into quite a bit of trouble,” Quinn declared sitting up carefully as she hissed with pain. While Charlie had been talking to Hermione, Bill had managed to reverse the body binding spell that had somehow been placed on Quinn.

“Not as much as we did,” Bill countered as he placed his hand around her waist pulling her up from the ground. “Quinn was a teacher’s pet. McGonagall pitied her, Snape was like an older brother to her, Dumbledore enjoyed the entertainment he got from her pranks and Filch always seemed tiptoe around her. Everyone tiptoed around her after-”

“Bill!” Quinn hissed suddenly realising where he was going.

“Right, sorry.” Bill muttered, slightly confused at why so much had come out of her mouth. “We really should get going.”

Nodding, Quinn began to take a step but failed as her knee gave way beneath her. “I must have twisted it when I passed out.”

“You passed out?”

“Yeah, the pain in my back became unbearable.” Quinn declared. “My head began to spin and I saw…” She paused for a moment, unsure whether to state what she had seen or leave it. It couldn’t have been true, he was dead. It must have been a figment of her imagination.

“You saw?”

“I saw stars.”

“Okay…?” Bill muttered as he looked down at Quinn was pushing herself up. “Well, considering you can’t walk, I am going to carry you back.”

“No, you are not!” Quinn exclaimed batting his hands away. “I can hobble back it is not difficult.”

“Why don’t we levitate you back?” Charlie questioned.

Snorting slightly, Quinn looked at Charlie as if he were mad before declaring, “I think I trust William carrying me more than I do you levitating me.”

“Good!” Bill stated scooping her up in his arms causing the girl to squeal.

Watching as the 3 adults chuckled, Hermione began to wonder if her, Harry and Ron were going to be like that when they were that age. She hoped that they would still be close, but how likely was it? Each of them had different dreams, she wanted to work at the ministry, Harry wanted to play Quidditch and Ron wanted to be an Auror. They had such different ambitions.

Without thinking, Hermione blurted out, “How are you still all so close?”

“We weren’t always,” Quinn declared indicating herself and Bill.

Looking at Hermione Charlie said, “Quinn and I have sent letters at least once a week for the last 3 years. She never sent them with the same owl or the same alias, she was always trying to protect my reputation, but I always knew they were from her.”

“How?”

“I am out with lanterns, looking for myself.” Charlie and Quinn declared in unison smiling.

“Emily Dickinson,” Hermione smiled.

“She always wrote it somewhere.”

“It has been my favourite quote for as long as I can remember.” Quinn stated.

“It’s beautiful,” Hermione agreed. “Why didn’t you and Bill stay so close.”

The duo turned silent, no-longer thinking about the answer Hermione wanted to hear but trying to recount the real reason for themselves. Shaking his head, Charlie turned to Hermione, “They broke each other’s hearts.”

“Shut up Charlie!” Bill and Quinn cried in unison, Bill taking his eyes off the ground before him for second. In that second two things happened. One, Bill got his foot caught in a tree root. Two, he threw Quinn in the air as he tripped.

“I feel like we have been in this situation before,” Bill chuckled as he pushed himself off of Quinn. “What? Yesterday?”

“Hmm, only the kitchen floor is slightly more comfortable,” Quinn chuckled. Looking up at Bill who was holding out his hand to help her up, Quinn noticed the large gash on his arm. “William! Where the hell did you get that?!”

Following Quinn’s gaze, Bill shrugged his shoulder as he answered, “Oh, I got it when I was helping the Aurors.”

Pulling her eyes to Charlie, Quinn noticed the rips in his shirt, “Is that how you got those tears too?”

“Yeah.”

“Merlin! What was going on?” Quinn questioned, raising her eyebrows as Bill and Charlie glanced at each other. “You two had better tell me!”

“The dark mark.” Hermione blurted out earning a glare from the eldest Weasley boys. “Someone conjured the dark mark as the death eaters were parading around the campsite.”

“He was right,” Quinn muttered as she took Bill’s hand, allowing him to help her up. “Draco was right, something big was happening today.”


	17. "Q! You almost took my eye out."

Fear of the dark is rational when something disastrous has happened while the earth was smothered in the endless blanket of night. So, the glow that was excluded from nearly every tent in the campsite did not seem out of place. In fact, the few tents that were dotted around without a single candle lit seemed odd, misplaced and most likely belonged to one of the wealthier families that had apparated immediately as they could afford to leave their tents behind.

Many of the attendees of the Quidditch World Cup final had now allowed exhaustion to take over their bodies. Many of them had been reluctant at first, suddenly aware of the danger that could happen while their eyes were shut, but once the late hours of night had come around they were finally ready to allow sleep to take over.

One witch, however, was not planning on allowing sleep to claim her any time soon. Subconsciously, she was forming a small orb of light that hovered between her fingers. Usually, she had no fear of who may see her while she was lying awake and bored, but that night she forgot that she wasn’t alone. She was curled up on the sofa in the Weasley tent, relishing in the hum of silence that was only being broken by the light snores of a certain red-haired boy, when a footstep echoed from behind her.

Suddenly, Quinn became aware of what she was doing and extinguishing the orb of light before flicking her head to gaze behind her. For a second her heart stopped and her mind flashed back to what she was pretty sure she had seen that night. What if he was still alive? What if he was here for her? Or worse, Harry?

Standing up, her leg still relatively uncomfortable, Quinn pulled her wand from her boot and pointed it into the darkness. If it was him, she was ready. There was no way that she was going to let him out of her sights again.

“Q! You almost took my eye out!” The figure whisper-yelled as he stepped out of the shadow revealing a well-built vibrant haired man. His long hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and his crystal blue eyes were filled with a sudden bout of worry.

Pulling in a sharp breath, Quinn lowered her wand, her voice dripping with guilt as she said, “I’m so sorry, I guess I’m just a little on edge.”

“Have you slept yet?” Bill asked as he looked at Quinn who looked down at her feet, her eyes not daring to meet his and her mouth not daring to lie. He would always know. He always had. “Q, you have to sleep otherwise you are going to get just as ill as you were before.”

“I can’t,” She whispered barely loud enough for the man to hear her. Stepping forewards, Bill went to tuck a stray strand of her hair behind her ear but she batted her hands away. “Tonight, I saw something, heard something that has every nerve in my body on standby. Every hair on my neck is still stood on edge William. I can’t sleep without that moment replaying in my mind again.”

“Q, whatever it was you can tell me.” Bill sighed as he looked at her as she hugged herself, retreating into the shell she was at school.

Mustering up as much strength as she could, Quinn looked up at Bill, her eyes searching for his willing them to give her strength, and said, “He was in my mind again.”

Eyes widening with shock, Bill swallowed back the fear that had suddenly jumped into his throat. “As in…” Quinn nodded, saving him from finishing his sentence. Suddenly, Quinn’s eyes filled with tears and Bill wrapped his arms around her, smothering her until he was sure she was safe.

“I thought it was all over. That night when Harry stopped him, but I know it was him William. It was his voice.” Quinn whispered as she sobbed into his chest, her heart aching more with every word she spoke. “I wasn’t sure to begin with, so I dove into it, the way I was taught as a child, and all I saw was darkness. It was like I was swimming through the black lake back at Hogwarts, only there were no signs of life. It was just black.”

Bill didn’t know what to say, so he just held her. Stroking her hair, Bill listened as she sobbed, her tears covering his bare chest. This was the part he hated, not having the ability to help her in any way. Not knowing how to reassure her that everything was going to be okay. He wasn’t sure it was. That night was a wakeup call to everyone, Quinn included. She wasn’t as safe as she thought.

Pushing herself away from Bill after what seemed like hours stood in silence, Quinn sat back down on the sofa forcefully wiping her tears away. Taking the seat beside her, Bill held his arm out as Quinn positioned herself, her head on his chest, before pulling the multitude of blankets that had been collected over them.

After the events of that night, Arthur didn’t want anyone to sleep in the girl’s tent, for their safety. It was highly unlikely that it would happen again, but he did not want to take that risk. Naturally, there had been many arguments about which duo of boys would be topping and tailing, Harry and Ron losing the argument, but apart from that the biggest problem had been keeping the teenagers awake long enough to find extra blankets for Harry, Hermione and Quinn. However, as soon as that was done, each of the teens practically passed out with exhaustion.

As Bill traced small circles on Quinn’s upper arm, the petite woman began to hum slightly before she realised that she was filling the room with a purple light. Clenching her lips together, Quinn smiled as she felt Bill chuckle.

Sighing as she looked up at the man she was falling quickly back in love with, Quinn felt a smile fill her face. When she was in his arms, she finally felt safe. She didn’t feel like there were prying eyes judging her, or that there were people out to get her. In Bill’s arms, Quinn felt normal. Normal and loved.

Without thinking, Quinn linked her fingers with his before asking, “Stay with me?”

A slight chuckle on his voice, Bill answered, “Always.”

_**Sorry for the shorter chapter, it is a filler because I had some serious writters block which I greatly appologise for. I hope you like this, let me know if there is anything that you want to see happen in the future or anything that you want to be made clearer. Any questions about Quinn past you are open to ask, but most of all I want to know what you want to happen because I am having some serious bouts of writters block. Thanks for reading this far, it means so much. - Aria Xx** _


	18. "William Weasley, please tell me that is just a pen."

Eyes flickering open, the mornings warm orange glow tickling his face as it penetrated the thin cotton of the tent walls, Bill smiled as he remembered what had happened the night before. He had fallen asleep with Quinn in his arms. Thinking about that happening every night in the future, Bill’s chest filled with a comfortable warmth.

Looking down to where Quinn’s hair splayed out messily, Bill noticed that her eyes were tightly screwed shut, and she was flinching repeatedly. It was clear to the red-haired man that the woman, once again was having a nightmare. Only, this nightmare was more than likely centred around the previous night.

After she had told him what had happened, who had entered her mind, Bill hadn’t been sure of she would have fallen asleep at all that night. He could remember the first time she had told him about the connection between herself and her father, he could remember the sure uncertainty on her face. She had been scared that he would never speak to her again. Though, he wasn’t sure it was purely fear, there was part of him that believed it was diluted in shame. Shame towards her family and what they stood for.

Naturally, Bill tried to wake the sleeping girl. Not wanting to see her restlessness, or for her to go through it, Bill shook her shoulder gently. Her eyes remained screwed tightly shut. Letting out a sigh, Bill sat himself up and carefully tried to move from where he was lead. If he couldn’t wake the woman, he would leave her to get whatever rest she was getting. Replacing his chest with one of the many cushions, Bill placed Quinn’s head gently down before pulling the blankets back up.

It was only around six, but Bill knew he wasn’t going to be able to get back to sleep. So, as he tried to make as little noise as possible, Bill placed the kettle on the stove to boil. Then, for the first time that morning, Bill began worrying. There was one main thing that he worried about, and that was the sleeping woman.

The night before they had found her, hidden under an invisibility cloak unable to move. Someone had done that to her; Quinn had no recollection of who. Before he could think too much into it, Bill heard movement from behind him. Assuming it was just the girl flinching again, he didn’t turn around.

Pouring the hot water into his mug, Bill was slightly startled by a cough followed by a sleepy voice saying, “I hope you remembered the rest of us.”

“If by the rest of us you mean you, then yes.” Bill declared as he turned around to see Quinn sitting up on the sofa.

Quinn’s eyes had been rimmed with red where she had been rubbing them continuously since she had woken up, her face was pale and there seemed to be pain in her dulled eyes. Taking in the girl, Bills heart broke in two. She looked like a shell of the woman he knew she was. A shell that had been created by her past.

“Stop staring at me, I look horrible in the morning.” Quinn grumbled as she pulled the blankets around her body tighter. There was a chill in the air that Bill hadn’t noticed yet, but Quinn’s recent bout of malnutrition meant that she felt it immediately.

A smirk filling his face, Bill announced, “You are right, you do look pretty horrible.”

“Oi!” Quinn cried throwing the pillow from the sofa at Bill, who managed to catch it before it hit him.

“I don’t know, I be romantic and nice you threaten to leave me. I be blunt, and you throw things at me.” Bill tutted as he finished making the two coffees and brought them to the sofa. “I can’t win with you.”

“I don’t mind romantic, but not sappy romantic.” Quinn declared. “Well, when it is the time and the place, anyway.”

“Right, just remind me, how am I supposed to know the right time and place?” Bill questioned as he passed Quinn her mug and took a seat beside her.

Taking a sip of her coffee, Quinn smiled before looking up at Bill and declaring, “Right now, while we are alone and not in public, is the right sort of time and place. When we are in a crowd of people in the middle of a massive public event, is not.”

“Q, you have changed greatly. You used to think the bigger the scene the better.” Bill declared sarcastically, causing the younger girl to chuckle.

“I know, I used to thrive in attention didn’t I.” Quinn joked along with Bill who was now laughing slightly.

Placing his free hand in Quinn’s face, Bill smiled as he whispered, “There’s the smile, Love.”

Before Quinn could answer, there was a fake gag from behind them. Turning to look at the source of the sound, neither were surprised to see the identical Weasley boys stood miming vomiting. “Now come on, this is a family tent. I thought you had more sense then that.”

That time it was Bill’s turn to throw the pillow from the sofa at the red-haired boy, “I guess the moment for romance is well and truly over.”

“It was good while it lasted you know,” Quinn smiled before pecking Bill’s cheek and pushing herself from the sofa. “William, after I almost maimed you last night, where did I put my wand?”

“I don’t know.” Bill answered as he looked around the room. “Can you not see it?”

“No, normally I put that in a sensible place.” Quinn chuckled as she recalled the events of the morning before when she lost her glasses. “Oh dear, I’m sure that it will be here somewhere.”

As Bill stood up off the sofa, preparing to help the young witch look for the missing wand, he heard and felt a crack under his foot.

“William Weasley, please tell me that is just a pen!” Quinn cried as she looked over at Bill whose eyes had widened in shock. Watching as he bent down, Quinn hoped with everything she had that it was a pen or a pencil, or a twig, anything but her wand. But as he lifted his hand, she saw her wand broken in two in his hand.

“Morning,” Arthur called as he walked in, defusing the tension of the room slightly. “How is – please tell me that’s your Bill. I don’t think your mother and I can afford another one from any of the others.”

“It’s mine Arthur.” Quinn declared, her voice breaking slightly. “Looks like I’m going back with the minors today. Then I will have to go to Diagon Alley and get a new one, after I have gone into the ministry and made sure that there isn’t anything that I need to do.”

“Are you sure?” Bill questioned looking at his girlfriends suddenly worried. “Are you well enough to go in?”

“William, I can take perfectly good care of myself.” Quinn snapped before looking at him apologetically. “I’m sorry, I can’t help but blame myself for what happened. I oversaw security, you see. I thought we had enough Aurors and Patrols, I should have put more.”

“Q, you had almost twice what Crouch wanted, there is no way you can be blamed for this.” Arthur declared as he looked at the raven-haired girl. “You just have to remember that when you go in, don’t let Crouch put everything on you.”

A small smile filled Quinn’s face as she looked at the man who had been more of a father to her that her own had ever been. It wasn’t her fault. She was finally beginning to accept the thought that not everything bad in the world was because of her.


	19. "I'm Sorry"

It was gone midnight when Quinn stumbled back through the Weasley door. For the last week she had been unable to leave the Ministry for news reporters at the exit. However, by sheer coincidence, the exits had finally been clear of reporter presence.

So, as she staggered through the door, her eyelids heavy from exhaustion, Quinn was filled, almost immediately, with relief. Even though, in the past, she had spent years away from the Burrow, this time Quinn had been craving the familiar warmth.

Looking around the kitchen, Quinn noticed that unlike usual there was no organised clutter. Each surface was spick and span, and more than likely the tidiest that Quinn had ever seen it. Quinn supposed that Molly had spent a great deal of her time cleaning as she worried about Percy and Arthur, who had spent almost as much time at the ministry as she had.

Luckily, Percy and Arthur had managed to make it home in the last week. Unlike before, Arthur had been poking his head around the door of Quinn’s office to ensure she was okay. However, much of the time, Arthur would arrive just as she had been given another task by Mr Crouch.

Stretching her arms, Quinn let out a large yawn before crossing the house to the living room. She had always hated being woken up in the middle of the night, so she had decided to sleep on the sofa for the night. Yet, as she walked into the room light snores filled her ears.

Glancing to the sofa, Quinn smiled as the familiar sight filled her eyes. Bill was fast asleep on the sofa. There was something about the sight that made Quinn feel at ease, as if she no longer had to worry about anything.

Watching as he shivered slightly, Quinn conjured a blanket before laying it over his frame. Ever so gently, Quinn brushed his fiery locks out of his face. Though her movement and contact were delicate, it still caused Bill’s eyes to flicker open.

Smiling at his sleepy eyes, Quinn whispered, “I’m sorry.”

“For what?” Bill yawned as pulled her onto the sofa with him.

“For waking you, and not getting back for a week.” Quinn replied as Bill rested his chin on her shoulder, taking in the smell of her hair, a smell he had missed.

Closing his eyes, Bill yawned as he said, “Your back now, and my mother is not going to let you go anywhere.”

“I thought it is supposed to be you who doesn’t let me go anywhere?”

“Your more likely to listen to Mum.” Bill muttered.

“Now that is very true.” Quinn smirked slightly as she allowed her eyes to fall heavy, and the dark abyss of sleep to claim her mind.

***

_Once again, she was in the forest. Re-tracing her steps was one of the last things she wished to do, but it was one of the best things she could do. She had to find out who had covered her with the invisibility cloak. Looking around the opening, she caught a glimpse of someone she had hoped she would never see again._

_He had turned the corner slowly, a snarl covering his face as if there was nothing more important. Hoping that there was some other explanation, she scurried backwards before tripping on what seemed to be her smashed glasses._

_“How much I have missed seeing your face,” A voice hissed, it obviously didn’t belong to the snarling man. “You have grown measurably as well my child.”_

_She tried to scream out, retort to the man, but she couldn’t move. Her voice was stuck in her throat as if it were a handful of nails. It hurt. She had to let it out. Only it was trapped, she could not let it go._

_“You see, I would love to have you back in my company,” the voice hissed again, ignoring her silent screams. “The problem is, I am not ready yet. I am not strong enough, but we will be together again child.”_

_“Master, we must go. Before we are seen.” A timid voice added as a second figure turned the corner._

_“Goodbye Quinn, I shall be seeing you again soon.”_

_With that the figures turned the corner and she Quinn let out the scream she had been holding in the whole time._

***

“Quinn!” A voice cried as a pair of hands roughly shook her. AS her eyes flicked open, they fixed on a worry ridden Bill who was leaning over her. Amid her restless night, Quinn must have fallen from the sofa, as her back was currently against the cold floor.

“It was him! He told me he would see me again!” Quinn cried as she hyperventilated. “I don’t want to see him again! I can’t see him again!”

Pulling Quinn into his chest as she wept, Bill muttered reassurances that he knew were not true. For as long as he remembered, Quinn’s dreams and nightmares had always meant something. The only difference was, while they were at school Quinn would share her nightmares with a professor. Professor Donavon and Quinn had always been close, and Bill had never known why.

However, today, Quinn seemed inconsolable. It was clear from the pace of her breath that what she had seen that night had truly shaken her. Worst of all, he was sure it was not going to be the last time she had a dream like that.


	20. Chapter 20

Quinn hadn’t moved for hours. For an obscene length of time she had sat, her hands wrapped around the white, ceramic mug, clinging to the heat that had long since left. Looking straight ahead, her eyes were bare, blank and hollow, nothing like the vibrant blue ocean of life her friends had become accustom to seeing.

Ever since she had opened her eyes, Quinn had been riddled in fear. It had ceased her bones and her rationality, causing her heart to quicken with even the slightest footstep. Bill had long since left her be.

After multiple attempts at trying to hold a conversation with her, just to have her look right through him as he had every other, Bill stormed out of the kitchen. When his mother had questioned his actions, he had simply ranted about how he felt useless. Not even he could sooth her nightmares.

There was no hiding the fact that everyone was worried for the girl. They had not seen her like she was since her fourth year, and that scared them all. Back then she had been sleepwalking through the days, and, while Mr and Mrs Weasley had not witnessed it first hand, Bill and Charlie had seen everything. And everything had driven her to the edge.

As the family worried about history repeating itself, one member took it upon themselves to try and talk to the woman. Fragility was not something that daunted the youngest Weasley, however she did take care when around things that held the quality. Quinn was no exception.

Letting out a soft sigh, Ginny placed a mug before the woman, an open-minded smile on her face as she sat opposite her. Being careful not to talk too loud and startle the delicate woman, Ginny said, “Yours’ must have gone cold by now.”

Letting out a small, “thanks,” Quinn traded the cup in her hands for the new one, flashing a smile at the dainty redhead before looking at the warm liquid.

“I know what it’s like, you know.” Ginny muttered, not looking up from her mug of tea. “When he got to me, I was like you. I pulled myself away from everyone.”

Looking up Quinn’s eyes filled with confusion, “What do you mean?”

“In my first year, Tom used me to get into Hogwarts. He used me to open the chamber of secrets, and I couldn’t fight him.” Ginny whispered still looking down at her tea. “I attacked people who were my friends, innocent people, all because he whispered in my ear.”

“I didn’t…”

“I have wanted to talk to you about it since you got here.” Ginny spoke, slightly less calmly than she had before. “Every time I tried to, someone would pull you away.”

Quinn didn’t say a word, she just looked at the girl, who was like a younger sister to her, and reached for her hand. Ginny snatched it away, her eyes filled with tears. How hard it must have been for her to admit it all allowed. How difficult to say that she, Ginevra Weasley, had, at only eleven, done unspeakable things. How brave to say it.

“I was glad because finally there was someone who had gone through the same thing as me, but come out on top. I wanted to tell you it all, because, Quinn, you were my big sister, you always put me first.” Ginny was in floods of tears now, looking at Quinn with a look of horror that she could not control. “But you were too busy wallowing around in self pity as if you were the only person who had ever been hurt!”

Standing up, Quinn crossed the kitchen and pulled up the chair beside Ginny. Placing her arm around the teenager, Quinn closed her eyes blinking back the tears. She had never meant to hurt anyone. Ever since she could remember she had tried everything she could not to hurt anyone, but she had hurt the one person who meant the most to her.

“I am always here for you Ginny,” Quinn whispered as the young girl cried into her shoulder. “I’m so sorry that I have been so blind to everything, but you have been so brave. So brave. As you said I know what it is like, so I know how hard you must have fought. Ginevra Weasley, you have a good heart and a strong mind to go with it.”

Looking up at Quinn, Ginny questioned, “How can you say I was brave? I set the beast on so many people.”

“I can say you were brave because you have not been _wallowing around in self-pity._ ” Quinn declared, and Ginny chuckled looking up at Quinn.

“I’m sorry I said that. I shouldn’t have.”

“No, you were right to.” Quinn stated as she brushed Ginny’s hair out of her face, clasping her face with her hands. “I was being selfish, and I should have been spending time with you. I’m sorry.”

Smiling up at the woman, who had slipped back into her previous role, Ginny wondered how much longer she would have to call her an honorary sister. She knew that Bill wasn’t going to let her go again, but the question was how long he was going to wait. And how long Quinn would wait.

“I forgive you on one condition.”

“Oh yeah, what’s that?”

Smirking, Ginny answered, “I’m a bridesmaid at your wedding.”

“Oh Ginny, you already know you are going to be my maid of honour.” Quinn answered placing a quick kiss on Ginny’s forehead. Just as Quinn did, Bill walked into the kitchen, chuckling at the, very, familiar scene.

As Quinn turned to look at him, her eyes still rimmed with tears, as were Ginny’s, Bill decided to lighten the mood in the room. Letting out a deep sigh, he declared, “I should have known. Cheating on me with my sister.”

“Yes, William, she is the love of my life.” Quinn joked as Ginny pecked her cheek quickly. After a flash of silence, they all burst out laughing.


End file.
